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Tag: Sunil Nair

  • Firework India to onboard various content creators like Faye D’Souza

    Firework India to onboard various content creators like Faye D’Souza

    MUMBAI: After getting into a partnership with Faye D’Souza, Firework India plans to rope more creators to generate quality and genuine content on the platform. Recently, former Mirror Now executive editor Faye D’Souza launched a new channel called Facts First with Faye, wherein she will be speaking on global and national news in 30-second videos.

    Firework India chief executive officer Sunil Nair, speaking exclusively to indiantelevision.com, said: “In the coming months we have plans to onboard several such creators. We will not restrict ourselves from any categories as long as it makes sense to our users and is tastefully done.”

    Google-owned Firework is a short-video sharing app that was launched in India in October 2019.

    While commenting on the revenue sharing model between the platform and D’Souza, Nair said: “The revenues will only grow with her channel’s popularity. As her partner, we will promote this channel. She produces compelling content and I am certain this will see rapid growth in the next one month.”

    Meanwhile, stating it as a revenue-sharing model between the platform and her, D’Souza had said, “We will also be looking at the branded content aspect going forward as the channel gets more traction.” The Facts First with Faye has already garnered 727 followers and the videos shared on the platform have her piece-to-camera interspersed with graphics.

    Content creators on digital platforms are, lately, being targeted by people in power to remove content or restrict them for posting something that’s controversial. In this regard, the Firework India CEO, talking on the independence of content creation, said: “We do not have any affiliations or favour anybody and let users decide and form an opinion. And, it’s the fundamental reason to come out with 30-second programming.”

    He added, “We are aware that India is a sensitive nation and have put together a very strong moderation team. With the collaboration of AI and human intervention, we have the ability to restrict any content that may hurt Indian sentiments.”

    With news being broadcast in 30-second video format, the Firework India CEO said, “We are certain that our purpose is only to deliver the message, what our users make of the message is their decision. Hence, yes, 30 seconds is enough to do that. We have integrated news in our product – as a channel- with the objective of being unbiased with absolutely no other agenda.”

    Pointing out that the country has very informed and aware citizens, Nair said: “The urban youth are opinionated and we must respect and understand that young India can make their own decisions and conclusions and they don’t need many hours of repetitive debates or be told what opinion to form.”

  • Building a large creator community independent of influencers: Firework’s Sunil Nair

    Building a large creator community independent of influencers: Firework’s Sunil Nair

    MUMBAI: If you thought the world had enough of short format content, it's about to change that perception. Going beyond lipsync, filters, influencer dependent videos, Silicon Valley-based short-video making app Firework is looking at shortspan storytelling and building a large creator community which is not dependent upon influencers.

    After a few days of its launch in the country, Firework gave the mandate of its Indian business to Sunil Nair appointing him as the CEO and MD for its India operations. Nair has been associated with content creation for a long time but that of a different format. Having spent nearly seven years with ALTBalaji, he has experimented with long-format fiction shows but the arena of short-format is new to him. Nair finds the new journey more interesting as telling a story in 30 seconds demands the content to go beyond gimmicks.

    Nair claimed that younger audiences like teens are not committing time to watching an entire  show because there are too many things that the generation is doing. According to him, all the content they consume is between all the other things they are doing resulting in smaller attention span.  

    “Short format as a content feature became popular in China and it is also popular in all countries where there is long commute time because when you are in a bus, or a cab, or train and trying to watch content you cannot watch 1 hour show, you can watch 20 videos because you just flip very quickly. That’s the audience which is far more interesting as compared to an audience which is watching long form content because long form content has set its business. A creator ecosystem is already there, there are filmmakers, there are lots of business strategies. Every OTT service now has set its business in a proper manner that they don’t need to really have a new way of doing things,” he added.

    As the conversation proceeded, Nair had shown the quality of content and the various genres including travel, food, fashion available on Firework enthusiastically. He said that an influencer is not going to bring any value to content as they are more interested in bringing people to like them.

    “We are saying that creator has to tell us story. It is not about taking a selfie that he or she was in front of Tajmahal as that is meant for friends and family and may be five people outside who would be interested in their personal life. We are saying that can that same creator tell the story of Tajmahal or Shah Jahan or Mumtaz in the same span,” he explained.

    Firework, globally, is redefining itself which has got offices in Japan, Latin America, Russia, Poland, USA, Canada, and India currently. In India, the video-sharing app is focusing on Tier1 and Tier2 cities largely. Moreover, it is not restricting itself to Hindi or English content. “Anyone who has a story to tell in any language is welcome,” as Nair put it.

    In terms of monetisation, Fireworks would allow brands to come on board in India as it does in Japan and travel, lifestyle, E-commerce brands are showing great interest. Moreover, if any celebrity comes on the Fireworks network , followers who want to have private interaction can pay a monthly price and chat with them. However, he did not reveal the possible price-pointers. He also mentioned that people in Japan are already paying $9 per month to talk to the people that they want to follow. Firework has been widely seen as a rival to TikTok in India. Nair declines to term the social video sharing app as Firwork's competitor.

    “I think our creators are the biggest marketing medium. Firstly, we don’t behave like typical consumer marketing. The focus is not on getting 500 million downloads because that’s probably the wrong way of running a business at this time. The focus is on creating good content and getting discovered wherever it can be discovered. So our marketing is largely content driven. So the conventional method that brand head or marketing head coming and saying that you know I need x million to do a marketing campaign does not work. The x million is used by us for creating more content and that getting discovered across wherever it is,” he commented on the marketing strategy.

    Talking about objectives, he said that buying downloads is not a way he wants to run the business. He hopes to have about 50 to 100 million DAU in the this year or so which makes it a sizeable media platform. He also aims to have around 10,000 Indian creators in six months across eight-nine languages. The company is looking at creating a massive content-bank in India by working with a lot more film schools, content creators, directors and partners.

    “My responsibility is not just to settle India but also to open up to South East Asia and Middle East. We are opening our Indonesia office and we have our Dubai office coming up,” he signed off.

  • ALTBalaji COO Sunil Nair steps down

    ALTBalaji COO Sunil Nair steps down

    MUMBAI: ALTBalaji chief operating officer (COO) Sunil Nair has stepped down from his current position. However, he will be serving the Ekta Kapoor-led OTT platform till 30 September.

    After nearly 4 years of association with ALTBalaji, he has resigned from his role as the COO to pursue new adventures.  

    He joined the organisation in June 2015, even before the service was launched successfully on 16 April 2017. He was responsible for building India's first pure-play original video content platform. He also worked with brands like Reliance Jio, Star India.

    Notably, Balaji Telefilms group CEO Sunil Lulla also quit last month. A few days after his resignation, Lulla announced his in-residence consulting service, The Linus Adventures.

  • ALTBalaji to tap into international market with YuppTV

    ALTBalaji to tap into international market with YuppTV

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms Ltd’s digital venture ALTBalaji has entered into a partnership with YuppTV. Users across the globe will be able to enjoy easy access to ALTBalaji’s premium content on YuppTV platform.

    The latest development will allow the diaspora and international audiences to enjoy the big screen experience provided by YuppTV along with convenient access to their favourite shows and movies by ALTBalaji.  YuppTV users will also have at their disposal popular movies like Lootera, Love Sex Aur Dhokha, Shor in the City, Shootout at Wadala, Ek Thi Daayan, and more.

    “We are glad to partner with ALTBalaji to offer their exclusive premium content to YuppTV users. At YuppTV, it has been our constant endeavour to provide our users with the most entertaining and high-quality content. We are hopeful that our global audience will appreciate the latest addition of ALTBalaji’s content in our bouquet of entertainment services,” YuppTV CEO Uday Reddy said.

    ALTBalaji has rolled out 20 original shows in various Indian languages across genres. In addition to this, ALTBalaji also offers entertaining original shows for children and snacky regional stand-up comedy. Yupp TV which has a good reach in diaspora audience can be a helpful platform for ALTBalaji to reach global audience easily.

    “ALTBalaji’s original shows have been getting a steady stream of subscribers from the international markets. This alliance allows ALTBalaji to tap into the existing subscriber base of YuppTV and provides easy access to our award winning shows. It is in line with our strategy of being available wherever the audiences are,” ALTBalaji COO Sunil Nair said.

    Also Read:

    ALTBalaji launches original stand-up comedy in Tamil, Telugu

    YuppTV- Cosmos-Maya partner for kids content 

  • The men of media celebrate the women in their lives

    The men of media celebrate the women in their lives

    MUMBAI: Women have the power to create, nurture and transform. The very word ‘woman’ conjures up the images of selfless love, care and affection. International Women’s Day is a worldwide event that celebrates women’s achievements – from the political to the social, professional to the personal – while calling for gender equality. It has been observed since the early 1900s and is now recognised each year on 8 March.

    Men, today, do a higher share of chores and household work than any generation before them. Yet working women, especially working mothers, continue to do significantly more. However, a real man always appreciates the important women in his life and celebrates their presence every day.

    Indiantelevision.com spoke to some of the men in the Indian media industry about their views on the subject.

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    ALTBalaji COO Sunil Nair

    I don’t think I need a special day to realise how important the women in my life are. At home, every day is women’s day since I live with three women—my daughter, wife and mother-and they ensure that I never forget who the real boss in house is. I believe we all can celebrate the women in our lives by respecting them, their opinions, treating them as equals and considering their views and choices as equally important.

    At workplaces, most Indian men do not know how to deal with a female coworker who is more intelligent or is more qualified. A deliberate policy that ensures that workplaces have good gender diversity helps in the longer run.

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    Green Gold Animation founder and CEO Rajiv Chilaka

    I personally believe that women are superior to men, but unfortunately even today, most women across India are struggling to have their voices heard and are fighting hard to secure their rights. In India, gender inequality is a huge problem and that has to be fixed. Most kids TV shows today are targeted towards boys with the message that boys/men are more important than girls/women. This has to change and we need to treat boys and girls as equals. I feel we shouldn’t just dedicate a day to celebrate but rather give them respect, importance, love and independence every day. In India, we all pray to goddesses like Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati for power, wealth and education but yet when it comes to our households we don’t look up to our women and we treat our women shabbily. 

    At workplaces, we need to hire more women and companies need to provide security and safe transport to women who work late hours. More importantly, families need to understand that the women can also aspire to have a successful career along with a fulfilling family life.

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    Bodhi Tree Multimedia founder Mautik Tolia

    Women’s day is deeply significant for me as I stand the man I am today because of the women who have influenced my life in various ways by helping me evolve and grow into the person I am today. I celebrate the women in my life by constantly making them feel how special and important they are to me. Although I don’t do this enough and feel I must do this more.

    The industry needs to do more about the safety of women especially at sets, which are located in far-flung areas with late pack up times by providing them transport and ensuring their safety. The industry is very demanding on young women especially who come from smaller towns with no safety net and hence a strong support system needs to be created by the seniors in the industry to ensure their physical and mental well being.

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    PwC India entertainment and media leader Frank D’souza

    Women’s day is a reminder of the fact that much needs to be done for women around the world, at various levels — socio, economic and political. A true test of the endeavours in this regard would be the time when we don’t feel the need anymore to celebrate a day in particular! A mother, wife, sister and daughter helps an individual to grow and flourish. I seek to recognise this contribution in the women in my life. There are times I do it well, and at times, I could do it better.

    But what needs to be done at workplace to ensure women are on equal footing as men is a debatable and tough question. Equality demands that all be treated similarly. However, one needs to be cognisant of the different needs of women at workplace, and create and implement policies to recognise such differences, primarily in issues related to career advancement. The challenge here to get the male workforce to appreciate the need for such distinction and not to feel reverse discriminated.

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    Eros Digital COO Ali Hussein

    Women’s day is a big day for me, as it’s a good way to take a step back and recognise their contribution in my life both personally and professionally. I have two very important women in my life: my wife and daughter and I celebrate the day by taking them out for a meal.

    At Eros, we try and maintain an equal men-to-women ratio in the team. This not only ensures great productivity but more so being a consumer brand allows us to maintain a tone and culture with our viewers largely. 

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    ALTBalaji CMO Manav Sethi

    Every day is women’s day when you live with your mom, wife and daughter. I look forward for men’s day! I celebrate the women in my life by giving them space, freedom, enablement and reinforcement that they are better than men.

    At workplace, we need to treat them as equals, give them opportunities, skill enhancement, learning and risks. Management/workplace is never a function of sex. It’s all about people, passion, commitment, common sense and brains.

  • Opera TV tieup: ALTBalaji to be on smart TVs, Blu-rays & STBs

    MUMBAI: OTT business in India seems to be a game of good yet reasonable content in the most accessible form.

    ALTBalaji, a digital platform for exclusive and original shows from India, has announced its content availability on Opera TV. This means that all Smart TVs, Blu-ray disc players and set-top boxes powered by Opera TV, will provide instant access to over 250 hours of original content from ALTBalaji. Simultaneously, ALTBalaji subscribers will now be able to access the service using the Opera TV store.

    ALTBalaji was launched globally on 16 April 2017 with six original show. The app claims to have already clocked more than three million downloads with subscribers from over 75 countries. Opera TV is a leader in enabling OTT through its embedded and cloud software portfolio that is integrated by manufacturers and operators. In the past five years, over 150 million connected TV devices have been enabled by Opera TV, awarding it a global market share of 33 per cent in Smart TVs.

    ALTBalaji COO Sunil Nair said, “With this partnership, our content will be accessible for viewers on Smart TVs as well as other platforms like Blu-ray Disc players and set-top boxes. As per statistics, 29 per cent of TVs are Smart TVs, and 93 per cent of Smart TV owners connect their TV to the Internet. The wider offering and the intensive use of video on-demand content, fuel this development. Our aim is to provide a seamless and enjoyable user experience through our integration with Opera TV and making available our shows on the connected screens.”

    “We, at Opera TV, are excited to partner with ALTBalaji as we share similar objectives of offering a variety of content to end users through state-of-the-art user experiences on the big screen. Digital shows offered by ALTBalaji are rich and resonates well with our existing selection of informative, entertaining and educational content. Today, a majority of our smart TV audience use OTT apps for watching movies and original shows and this partnership ensures that they’ll continue to avail of the best of entertainment through a hassle-free experience,” said Opera TV CEO Aneesh Rajaram.

  • OTTV 2017: Co-existence with traditional TV predicted, scope for OTT kids content

    MUMBAI: “Can OTT TV challenge traditional TV?” was the session on OTTV Summit 2017, as industry experts shared their views with regards to the future of the traditional TV consumption and OTTV consumption. Will traditional TV die soon? Will OTT take over traditional TV?

    Moderated by Dveo Media CEO Deepak Ramsurrun, the session saw Alt Balaji COO Sunil Nair, Sony Pictures Network India head of marketing and analytics digital business Abhishek Joshi, Lattu Media founder and CEO Vivek Bhutyani and News Corp VC Circle’s Shreyas Rao expressing their views..

    The session started by Nair stating that every platform has its audience so the whole assumption that, at any point of time, OTT is going to impact traditional television, is not going to happen. “I think OTT and television will co-exist for a long time. The audience will not go away easily. There might be 100m users of Jio, but still the number is small as compared to this huge animal. So, we should accept this and co-exist with them.”

    Sharing his view, Joshi mentioned, “Fortunately, I am from the organisation which has a strong presence in traditional TV and in OTT space as well. We strongly believe that content is democratic. We treat other platforms as distribution partners to increase the reach of the content on TV and OTT service as well. How do we differentiate the OTT digital content and traditional TV content? I firmly believe that whatever content works on TV will work on OTT. There are 30 OTT platforms in India — the strategy is not how to distribute it but how to monetise it. As a digital platform, we have not been able to crack that code yet. We all are doing Freemium, SVoD, TVoD whereas traditional television have been existing since 30 years.”

    Having a different point of view, Bhutyani who founded Lattu Kids, India’s first kids’ only platform which aims to become the safest destination for kids and parents to view content, compared the consumer on traditional TV and the one on digital, he likened traditional TV to Rajasthani Thali and Gujarati Thali. What he actually meant was that, “in a thali”, the consumer gets so many options but, s/he may not want a few of the items that are offered. In digital, it gives the consumer the power to have that choice. Content is very important. The viewership in kids genre has been on a decline. Globally, in top 10 YouTube channels, there are 2-3 kids channel. Parents informed us that they are not happy with the kind of content broadcasters have been showing.”

  • ALTBalaji rolls out its windows universal app for XBox & Surface Hub etc

    MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms’s OTT platform ALTBalaji has announced the roll out of its Windows 10 universal application. The app is available in the Windows 10 app store and works seamlessly across PCs, Laptops, Smart Phones, and Surface Tablets running Windows10 OS.

    The app will soon be rolled out on other popular Microsoft devices and platforms like XBox, Surface Hub, and other devices through the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). Windows 10 has 400 million monthly active users globally who can now enjoy ALTBalaji’s original, exclusive and tailor-made shows on a variety of Windows devices.

    Speaking on the announcement, ALT Digital Media Entertainment COO Sunil Nair said, “By rolling out the Windows10 app, we have shown our commitment to our audience by making it easy for them to experience ALTBalaji on laptops as well as their regular smart phones. Features like multi­ device continuous play will make it easy for users to watch our shows on their mobile phone while on the move, and switch to their Windows 10 laptop or PC to continue enjoying the show seamlessly.”

    “We believe that with the ALTBalaji Windows 10 Universal App we have created a truly personalized platform which will benefit our digital consumers. All over the world people are more engaged when they consume content on larger screens with an immersive video and audio experience. Microsoft is committed to providing our users with a great viewing platform, and our collaboration with ALTBalaji will ensure that they get seamless access to content anywhere, at any time,” said Microsoft India windows and surface business director Vineet Durani.

    The video platform supports Microsoft Smooth Streaming and has Playready for Digital Rights Management (DRM). Using UWP allows multiple device specifications through a single app and makes it easy to upgrade seamlessly. Customers can use upto five devices simultaneously with one subscription, which makes it convenient for family viewing.

  • Balaji selects Xstream & Diagnal to power OTT service ALT Digital

    Balaji selects Xstream & Diagnal to power OTT service ALT Digital

    MUMBAI: India’s TV and film production studio Balaji Telefilms has partnered with OTT solutions providers Xstream and Diagnal to power its new OTT entertainment service ALT, which is slated to launch in Q2-2016. The service will be available across connected devices, targeting young, connected and new age audiences.

    Xstream’s cloud-based video management system, Xstream MediaMaker, will fuel ALT’s multiscreen solution, whereas Diagnal will be responsible for front-end design, development, big data solution and systems integration. 

    Announced in 2015, ALT is a part of the Balaji’s strategic intent to extend its creative expertise to the digital domain by developing on-demand, original and exclusive content for digital audiences globally.

    “ALT Balaji wants its audience to enjoy compelling stories and does not want technology to be a stumbling block in their experience. We believe that technology is an enabler and if it’s invisible to the consumer then we have done a great job,” said ALT Digital Media COO Sunil Nair. “Xstream gives us world class solutions that are flexible allowing us to offer seamless smooth user experience in video playback. Their experience combined with the depth of knowledge of the Diagnal team has helped us very quickly build a fabulous platform.”

    “Diagnal’s proven market expertise and product delivery capabilities combined with Xstream’s flexible and scalable platform, their impressive track record of managing high-end, customised Internet video services, proven technology and their ability to act as a solution partner, truly sets them apart from others and made them a natural partner and first choice for us. With Diagnal and Xstream we’ve gained partners who truly understand the complicated OTT ecosystem and we have built a future-proof solution. This enables us to continue to build a platform for our next generation OTT service on multiple devices that we can grow and develop with as we move forward in a speedily evolving market,” adds ALT Digital Media Entertainment head of product Ashish Bhansali.

    Launching this summer, ALT will utilise Xstream MediaMaker and Diagnal’s robust technology services to offer the audience in India and abroad an enjoyable experience across various devices.

    Xstream MediaMaker is designed to enable operators, broadcasters and content owners to seamlessly create, manage, deliver and monetise future- proof Internet TV solutions across regions and countries with multiple languages & currency on multiple devices- all with an easy and transparent workflow management- simplifying the complexity in Internet TV and allowing their customers to focus on their core business, not the complexity in OTT.

    “As the pioneering studio in India, Balaji continues to propel the entertainment industry forward with innovation and quality content. We look forward to support their passion for creating quality content with our flexible, proven and scalable cloud- based OTT platform for delivery of multiscreen video solutions and other innovative and personalized services for engaging and delighting subscribers. ALT Balaji is a great example of a true innovator in Direct-to-consumer OTT services and we are delighted to be working together,” said Xstream CEO Simon Hoegsbro.

    “We’re incredibly proud of what the partnership between ALT Balaji, Xstream and Diagnal has achieved in a short period of time – a world class OTT product that is suited to the content needs of the Indian market and is also a pleasure to use,” added Diagnal CEO Reuben Verghese.

    The ALT Balaji solution by Xstream is fully cloud- based, using Amazon Web Services. Using AWS, Xstream is able to deliver unparalleled performance and durability to ensure a quality delivery to ALT Balaji subscribers. With EC2 Xstream have access to a perfect solution to operate API’s and customer facing services. S3 is used for robust storage of content and assets, which is then served using Cloudfront. Lastly RDS and Redshift are used databases for metadata and statistics. Xstream is proud to be an Amazon Web Services Advanced Technology Partner.

  • Balaji selects Xstream & Diagnal to power OTT service ALT Digital

    Balaji selects Xstream & Diagnal to power OTT service ALT Digital

    MUMBAI: India’s TV and film production studio Balaji Telefilms has partnered with OTT solutions providers Xstream and Diagnal to power its new OTT entertainment service ALT, which is slated to launch in Q2-2016. The service will be available across connected devices, targeting young, connected and new age audiences.

    Xstream’s cloud-based video management system, Xstream MediaMaker, will fuel ALT’s multiscreen solution, whereas Diagnal will be responsible for front-end design, development, big data solution and systems integration. 

    Announced in 2015, ALT is a part of the Balaji’s strategic intent to extend its creative expertise to the digital domain by developing on-demand, original and exclusive content for digital audiences globally.

    “ALT Balaji wants its audience to enjoy compelling stories and does not want technology to be a stumbling block in their experience. We believe that technology is an enabler and if it’s invisible to the consumer then we have done a great job,” said ALT Digital Media COO Sunil Nair. “Xstream gives us world class solutions that are flexible allowing us to offer seamless smooth user experience in video playback. Their experience combined with the depth of knowledge of the Diagnal team has helped us very quickly build a fabulous platform.”

    “Diagnal’s proven market expertise and product delivery capabilities combined with Xstream’s flexible and scalable platform, their impressive track record of managing high-end, customised Internet video services, proven technology and their ability to act as a solution partner, truly sets them apart from others and made them a natural partner and first choice for us. With Diagnal and Xstream we’ve gained partners who truly understand the complicated OTT ecosystem and we have built a future-proof solution. This enables us to continue to build a platform for our next generation OTT service on multiple devices that we can grow and develop with as we move forward in a speedily evolving market,” adds ALT Digital Media Entertainment head of product Ashish Bhansali.

    Launching this summer, ALT will utilise Xstream MediaMaker and Diagnal’s robust technology services to offer the audience in India and abroad an enjoyable experience across various devices.

    Xstream MediaMaker is designed to enable operators, broadcasters and content owners to seamlessly create, manage, deliver and monetise future- proof Internet TV solutions across regions and countries with multiple languages & currency on multiple devices- all with an easy and transparent workflow management- simplifying the complexity in Internet TV and allowing their customers to focus on their core business, not the complexity in OTT.

    “As the pioneering studio in India, Balaji continues to propel the entertainment industry forward with innovation and quality content. We look forward to support their passion for creating quality content with our flexible, proven and scalable cloud- based OTT platform for delivery of multiscreen video solutions and other innovative and personalized services for engaging and delighting subscribers. ALT Balaji is a great example of a true innovator in Direct-to-consumer OTT services and we are delighted to be working together,” said Xstream CEO Simon Hoegsbro.

    “We’re incredibly proud of what the partnership between ALT Balaji, Xstream and Diagnal has achieved in a short period of time – a world class OTT product that is suited to the content needs of the Indian market and is also a pleasure to use,” added Diagnal CEO Reuben Verghese.

    The ALT Balaji solution by Xstream is fully cloud- based, using Amazon Web Services. Using AWS, Xstream is able to deliver unparalleled performance and durability to ensure a quality delivery to ALT Balaji subscribers. With EC2 Xstream have access to a perfect solution to operate API’s and customer facing services. S3 is used for robust storage of content and assets, which is then served using Cloudfront. Lastly RDS and Redshift are used databases for metadata and statistics. Xstream is proud to be an Amazon Web Services Advanced Technology Partner.