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Tag: Walt Disney India

  • Oneindia taps Sushant Yattam to spearhead video push

    Oneindia taps Sushant Yattam to spearhead video push

    MUMBAI:  It’s hoping that this appointment will help it go one up on competition. Oneindia, India’s multilingual digital news platform, has named Sushant Yattam as business head for video as it seeks to capitalise on the country’s surging appetite for video content. The appointment signals the platform’s ambitious pivot towards video-first revenue generation and audience expansion.

    Yattam brings 15 years of media and entertainment experience to the role, having held senior positions at Wizcraft, Qyuki Digital Media, Walt Disney India and UTV Indiagames. His brief centres on scaling Oneindia’s video operations and developing creator-led content strategies across the platform’s network.

    “Video represents the future of digital storytelling and revenue growth,” says Oneindia chief business officer Sunder Venkatraman.  “With Sushant’s proven track record in scaling businesses and creator innovations, we’re positioned to lead the market in building an innovative video ecosystem that truly represents Bharat.”

    The platform, which reaches over 280  million users, sees significant scope for video expansion as Indian audiences increasingly shift towards multilingual video formats.  Yattam aims to develop scalable intellectual properties that blend data-driven insights with regional storytelling.|

    “Audiences worldwide are rapidly moving towards video and multilingual formats,” Yattam notes. “Oneindia is uniquely positioned not only to lead this transformation in India but also set benchmarks for digital markets globally.”

    The appointment comes as Indian digital platforms face intensifying competition for video eyeballs and advertising revenue in one of the world’s fastest-growing internet markets.

  • Epic TV to experiment with long and short duration content

    Epic TV to experiment with long and short duration content

    MUMBAI: Here’s more dope on Epic TV, the new historical, folklore and mythological channel that is being wet-nursed by former Walt Disney India head Mahesh Samat and funded by Anand Mahindra personally.

     

    As revealed yesterday, the channel is expected to launch in August sometime. Currently, the company has applied to the I&B ministry for a broadcast license, which it hopes to have in its pocket in a couple of months. It is also negotiating for transponder space – one on the Insat series and the other with a south east Asia based vendor.

     

    Additionally, Samat says that the channel has plans to do narratives and programming of varying duration. “We are focusing on programming based on long form fiction narrative of an hour’s duration, non-fiction shows and short form fiction. Long form will have two-three hour episodic shows in a day. These will focus on new situations, supernatural content, drama and crime. Whereas narrative non-fiction will consist of one to two hours programming in a day, underlining narrative documentaries including contemporary, recreational and reenactment styles. And the last short form content will be seen as short vignettes, explaining interesting facts, and short ‘behind-the scenes’ videos.”

     

    Samat says all the shows will be shot in HD and with high production values. “We will be looking at monetising the content even across digital platforms, eking out revenues from wherever we can,” he reveals.

     

    Apart from Ravina Kohli and Aparna Pandey other professionals who have come on board include Niharika Kotwal as head production and Manish Thukral as chief financial officer.

  • Usha to launch Chota Bheem and Doraemon co-branded fans

    MUMBAI: Consumer durable manufacturing firm Usha International has tied up with the Chota Bheem and Doraemon franchisees to launch a new series of kid’s fans based on the theme of cartoon characters.

    Usha will design fans which will have these animated cartoon characters imprinted on them. Exclusively designed for Kids, these fans have a stationary bottom cover for static images and complete viewing experience.

    The company says ‘Chota Bheem’ and ‘Doraemon’ are the most loved cartoon characters among kids, as per research findings.

    The range is targeted at children in the age group of 3-12 years and will be across India in four models i.e. Chota Bheem –Lado, Chota Bheem-Chutki, Doraemon-Copter and Doraemon-Basketball.

    Hyderabad-based Green Gold Animation owns the IP rights for popular mytho animated series Chota Bheem, which airs on Turner International’s kids channel Pogo. Doraemon is a Japanese anime which airs on Walt Disney India’s Hungama channel.

  • Disney rolls out ‘Back to school’ range featuring popular characters

    MUMBAI: Disney Consumer Products India, the consumer products division of Walt Disney India, has launched its back to school range featuring popular Disney characters such as Mickey and Friends, Disney Princess, Disney.Pixar Cars and Winnie the Pooh.

    The range includes stationery products, backpacks, lunch boxes, water bottles and much more with prices ranging from Rs 10 to Rs 1599.

    The backpacks and trolley bags range is priced between Rs 599 to Rs 1599 while school stationery price range starts from Rs 10 with the upper range being Rs 499. For lunch boxes and water bottles, the price range is between Rs 89 to Rs 569.

    To engage kids, Disney is organising interactive activities across key retail stores for kids and families to come and participate. The activities include art and craft workshops, storytelling session and fun games for kids.

    “Getting ready for the new school year can sometimes be a task for parents. We, at Disney understand this and strive to make going back to school a memorable experience for kids and parents alike,” said The Walt Disney Company India executive director Licensing Siddharth Taparia.

    The products will be available across all the leading retail outlets including – Reliance Time Out, Easy Day, Lifestyle, Crossword, and Star Bazaar. The products will also be available online at shopatdisney.in.

  • Amitabh Srivastava quits Walt Disney India

    Amitabh Srivastava quits Walt Disney India

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Television International (India) director affiliate relations Amitabh Srivastava is quitting the company in search of news challenges.

    Today, was his last day in office.

    A company spokesperson confirmed the same to Indiantelevision.com, citing that no replacement had been found as yet.

    As director affiliate relations, Srivastava was mandated with the task of working with Disney India’s distribution partner, Star India, to manage all aspects of cable and satellite distribution and network development.

    For the last couple of months however, Srivastava was working closely with Disney India director business development Shantanu Nalavadi in strategising and executing Disney’s growth initiatives for India across television, licensing and merchandising, radio, on-line gaming, mobile and broadband content, studio, home video, publishing and animation.

    Srivastava joined Disney in January 2005 from the TV Today Network where he was head of distribution and network development. He was an integral part of the team at TV Today, which helped in launching Aaj Tak and Headlines Today.

    Prior to his stint with TV Today, Srivastava was with BBC World’s Indian operation and has also held senior management positions at MTV and The Times of India.

    On being queried as to where his next destination would be, Srivastava said, “I’m taking a break right now and have not yet decided where I am going.”