ITV

Tag: Zee5

  • ZEE5 announces season third of ‘Tripling’

    ZEE5 announces season third of ‘Tripling’

    Mumbai: ZEE5 has announced the third instalment of Tripling, featuring Sumeet Vyas, Maanvi Gagroo, Amol Parashar, Kumud Mishra, Shernaz Patel and Kunaal Roy Kapur in significant roles.

    Produced by Arunabh Kumar, the series is directed by Neeraj Udhwani; the story is by Arunabh Kumar and Sumeet Vyas; the screenplay is by Sumeet Vyas; and the dialogues are by Sumeet Vyas and Abbas Dalal.

    The family friendliness and banter that made the earlier seasons of the programme so relevant and entertaining contributed to its initial success, and this season won’t be any different.

    The third season of Tripling will span five episodes and capture the essence of the three siblings and their relationship as they set out on a new adventure this season with the help of their parents and separate partners.  

    Speaking on the announcement, ZEE5 India chief business officer Manish Kalra said, “Tripling is a popular series that has garnered a loyal following amongst the masses. We are excited to bring the third season on ZEE5 and are thankful to our partner, TVF, for enabling us to bring the fan-favourite to millions of homes this festive season, giving them a chance to enjoy their much-loved show with their family and friends. Staying true to our commitment to consumer-first, we will continue to invest in curating a diverse, relatable, and engaging portfolio on ZEE5.”

    ZEE5 chief content officer of Hindi originals Nimisha Pandey added, “After the heart-warming response to Saas Bahu Achaar Pvt Ltd, we are very excited to partner again with Arunabh Kumar and the TVF team. Director Neeraj Udhwani has brought to life in the new season of Tripling, the trials and tribulations of the three adorable and quirky siblings with a fun twist. This season delves into a unique but relatable facet of evolving relationships in today’s context and is peppered with the quintessential TVF humour. I hope audiences will enjoy bingeing on this perfect family entertainer during the festivities.”

    “While creating season three of Tripling, Sumeet and I wanted to get back to the original ethos of the show, which has always been about “Crisis mein family hi kaam aati hai,” but where the siblings face a major twist within the family itself. The season also includes a timely trek, replacing the trip with the usual dose of humour and relatable emotions,” said TVF founder Arunabh Kumar.

    “The uniqueness of season three lies in its focus on the family. We all know and love Chandan, Chitvan, and Chanchal, but where do their quirks and eccentricities come from? Their parents, obviously, who are as crazy as them and make their own unusual choices, which the three siblings have to deal with. The fans are in for a treat as this season has got a bit of everything—the usual humour and lots of drama,” commented Neeraj Udhwani.

  • OTTplay Premium targets 1.5 mn subscribers in a year: co-founder and CEO Avinash Mudaliar

    OTTplay Premium targets 1.5 mn subscribers in a year: co-founder and CEO Avinash Mudaliar

    Mumbai: An OTT platform aggregator, OTTplay Premium, has been a content discovery platform for streaming services. Earlier this year, it turned into a streaming service provider.

    Currently, OTTplay distributes 12 OTT platforms, including SonyLIV, ZEE5, Lionsgate Play, Sun NXT, ShemarooMe, Curiosity Stream, ShortsTV, DocuBay and four international brands-Hallmark Movies Now, DUST, FUSE+ and Tastemade+—with the goal of scaling up.

    OTTplay co-founder & CEO Avinash Mudaliar said, “We have 12 OTT players. We have signed up with another three OTT players. In this quarter, we plan to have 20 OTT services on our platform.”

    A product of HT Labs, OTTplay offers five subscription packs, and regional content markets are the major players in its offerings. It has no plans to create content. It aims to ensure that its partners get the best distribution reach.

    Mudaliar said, “We will bring in Turkish and Korean content. The subscriber numbers are encouraging. We plan to reach 1.5 million subscribers in a year. We aim to break even in 2.5-3 years.”

    He noted that while HT is an investor, the company will look at external investors. Investors have made substantial investment.

    He further explained that when OTTplay started a couple of years back, the company realised that over 60 per cent of people struggled to figure out what to watch and where, digitally. While there were great pieces of content, nobody knew how to find them. “There were large and small OTT platforms. The conundrum for people is do you spend money on creating or marketing content? Great content is put on OTT platforms and gets lost. We come from a product-tech background. Our strength is in recommendations, but we also respect the concept of manual editorialisation. We started with solving the problem of what to watch and where. That was the market gap.”

    Every person has their own set of choices. So, we built a personalisation engine. “We would lead consumers to the payment gateways of OTTs.” Further, it was decided to layer the engine with content. For this purpose, 25 people started to work on the content and reviewed it.

    He said that many OTT platforms use the company’s ratings and reviews. “That was phase one. Another problem was how to watch and how much to pay. People wanted us to bring content together. This was the feedback that we got from consumers. So we built a subscription gateway. You pay once for multiple OTT platforms. You can watch their content on your phone, laptop, Amazon’s fire TV stick, and Android TV.”

    The powerplay package on the platform costs Rs 1,999 for 12 OTT platforms. The cheapest package costs Rs 699 for five OTT services. There is a lot of interest in the powerplay package due to its value offers, he said.

    Mudaliar remarked that deals with OTT platforms tend to be a mix of licensing and revenue sharing. “The deals are interesting and complicated.”

    He further noted that the cost per subscriber is a struggle for OTT platforms. OTTplay gets a subscriber that the OTT platform might not have gotten. OTTplay, through its recommendation engine, also gets people to consume content on those platforms that they might not have otherwise consumed.

    “We enable discovery of content pieces. It is a win-win. It is a marriage of equal minds. One is a creator and one is a discovery engine. OTTplay premium provides new users, content discovery, and marketing muscle to the OTT platforms. OTTplay Premium provides a cohort of users that those OTT platforms might never have had,” said Mudaliar.

    One challenge for the company is to retain consumers. He mentioned that they must come back. OTTplay Premium has to offer a value add that others do not offer. One also has to keep users engaged and see that the time spent on the OTT platforms on OTTplay Premium increases. “The more the number of hours he/she watches on those platforms the better it is for OTTplay Premium. That is revenue coming in.”

    Sharing about the distributor platform’s collaboration with five international OTT platforms in India and their launch. He said, “Hallmark Movies Now plays in the romance and comedy space. Meanwhile, DUST plays in the sci-fi space. How much sci-fi content is available on television? Hardly any. People love cooking in India, and again, that kind of content is not shown much on TV. Tastemade+ is a food OTT platform. FUSE+ is a full-fledged lifestyle OTT offering. Docubay is a documentary OTT. CuriosityStream is a science and information-related OTT. You will spend close to Rs 14,000 on subscribing to each of them individually,” Mudaliar added.

    He said that the company is very serious about the regional space. Namma Flix will be on OTTplay Premium, he revealed . “We are getting pretty active in the regional space. Conversations are on for the platforms’ reach in the North and East. Bengali has amazing content. The barrier to entry in OTT is high. You need to plan your content and marketing strategy. These are the three key levels. The product has to be clearly differentiated. We have a lot of problems.” It is also important, he added, to plan for when you will get customers and what kind of an experience you will provide to them.

    Explaining how the recommendation engine works, he said that someone who likes crime may watch Agatha Christie on SonyLIV. Now, if someone has put English and Kannada as the languages of choice, the aggregator can suggest an Agatha Christie movie made in Kannada on another platform. Then the aggregator will recommend an Agatha Christie documentary on Docubay. “People end up discovering different pieces of content across OTT platforms. The user experience is great across the OTT platforms. This is what OTTplay Premium brings. We have solved the problem of what, where, when, how, and why to watch. It has solved the ecosystem. We have become that voice,” he explained.

    In terms of content preferences by subscribers, he said that Hindi is first, followed by regional languages, and then English. In terms of genres that people consume, he points to crime, comedy, family dramas, and documentaries.

    However, he mentioned that the company is thoughtful to the fact that India is a price-sensitive market. “So our products suit the Indian customer. We build whatever works for the customer. We respect both SVOD and AVOD. Indians like the thali approach. They like the sampling and tasting approach. It is how the Indian content consumption ecosystem works. You need to give to take. You need to show value. The concept of hidden value to an Indian customer does not exist. The more content you put out there, the more they like it, and the more they are willing to pay.” 

    He highlighted that the subscriber base comes from the metros. OTTplay Premium is like Spotify. It is not a bundled product that runs on only one data plan. It runs regardless of the telco service provider, he said.

    On the tech front, he noted that the company has its own algorithms, which are homegrown. There are multiple teams, including data science and engineering teams. They work on algorithms, and it is a learning algorithm. The more a user interacts with the app, converses with the app, and gives feedback, the more the app starts to respond. That is how the algorithm works. Collaborative filtering goes on in the algorithm. The company’s editorial team provides articles for the machine to learn from.

    He concluded by mentioning his remarks on the marketing front that the company will do couponing. It has tied up companies who will gift OTTplay as a subscription. It has tied up with the HT circulation team, who are selling Diwali packages with the newspapers. The concept is that OTTplay premium gives you happiness. Diwali is about happiness. So one can give an OTTplay premium as a gift of happiness. This is the marketing plan for the next few months.

  • ACT Fibernet launches its OTT aggregator platform YuppTV scope

    ACT Fibernet launches its OTT aggregator platform YuppTV scope

    Mumbai: Non-telco internet service provider (ISP) ACT Fibernet announced the launch of its OTT aggregator platform, YuppTV Scope. It will offer its users a range of OTT applications such as ZEE5, SonyLIV, and Voot Select.

    YuppTV scope provides users with a single-subscription OTT streaming platform with a large selection of live TV channels, eliminating the time-consuming task of accessing and managing multiple apps on their devices.

    Customers will receive 400+ live channels, 1000+ TV shows, 500+ originals, and 10,000+ movies as part of this package.

    YuppTV founder and CEO Uday Reddy said, “We are excited to partner with ACT Fibernet to launch YuppTv Scope, our single-subscription OTT streaming platform for ACT broadband users. YuppTV Scope offers a unique differentiation by bringing a traditional TV experience to the platform, which we are sure will be enjoyed by platform users. At YuppTV, we look at revolutionising content consumption in the country and ushering in the era of OTT, through this tech-driven content curation platform YuppTV Scope.”

    While existing customers can visit actcorp.in/yupptvscope, enter their registered mobile number or user ID, and generate an OTP to subscribe and add to their bill, new customers can contact the sales representative at the time of booking and request an add-on to their bill.

    Furthermore, new customers who book their connection online can add YuppTV Scope at the time of booking.

    YuppTV Scope provides users with a single-subscription OTT streaming platform that includes SonyLIV, ZEE5, Voot Select, and YuppTV—with an extensive bouquet of live TV channels, eliminating the time-consuming task of accessing and managing multiple apps on their devices.

    The platform provides a highly curated experience with personalised recommendations based on viewership patterns, which are manually curated by a team of experts while also utilising AI and ML capabilities.

    YuppTV Scope simplifies content discovery even further by eliminating the need to access multiple apps to find appropriate content from device types such as Smart TVs, PCs, mobile phones, tablets, and streaming media players.

    In the coming weeks, YuppTV Scope will add two more premium OTT partners to the subscription package.

    Atria Convergence Technology marketing head Ravi Karthik said, “Today, the OTT market boasts 55+ video entertainment apps and is still growing. With so many choices, Indian OTT customers are finding it difficult to subscribe to multiple video services separately. Thus, OTT aggregation services are becoming more popular in the country. With Yuppscope, we aim to satisfy the rising consumer demand for original content and offer a hassle-free experience of subscribing to many platforms with a single click.”

    “We are excited to launch a platform that is fast and provides the best entertainment in the form of a simple monthly subscription with a single sign-up for accessing multiple streaming services,” he added.

  • Female representation in mainstream film & entertainment industry is low currently: O Womaniya! 2022 study

    Female representation in mainstream film & entertainment industry is low currently: O Womaniya! 2022 study

    Mumbai: A recent report reveals that female representation in the film & entertainment sector is minimal currently. The report is conducted by Ormax Media and Film Companion and titled as O Womaniya! 2022. The report is supported by entertainment hub Prime Video.

    The report highlights on-screen and off-screen representation of women by analysing over 150 theatrical films, streaming films and series released in 2021 across eight Indian languages, including Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali, and Gujarati.

    The report studied the representation and participation of women across three major categories—”content” which included female representation on-screen and behind the camera; “marketing” which studied female representation in promotional trailers of films and series; and “corporate” which analysed female representation in boardrooms of the top 25 media and entertainment firms. The key findings are:

    Low – representation off-screen: Behind the camera, women are underrepresented, with only 10 per cent of the head of department (HOD) positions held by women across key divisions (production design, writing, editing, direction, and cinematography). Out of the 56 theatrical films analysed across languages, not even one was directed or edited by a woman. Women held only 10 per cent of senior leadership positions in decision-making media and entertainment corporations, resulting in a ripple effect on inclusivity throughout the production and execution chain.

    Low – representation on-screen: Only 55 per cent of the movies and series passed the Bechdel Test. Even in promotional trailers analysed through the Trailer Talk Time Test, women had only 25 per cent of the talk time, with 48 titles even allocating 10 seconds or less to female characters.

    Women hire more women: The percentage of female HODs doubled when a woman greenlit a series or a film. Similarly, a higher percentage of films passed the Bechdel Test (68 per cent) and women had higher trailer talk time (35 per cent) if the title was commissioned by a woman.

    Streaming is driving the change: Streaming films and series performed better than theatrical films across all parameters, indicating the change the sector is ushering in representation on and off-screen. For instance, the representation of female HODs in streaming films and series was five times higher than in theatrical films. Similarly, 64 per cent of streaming series and 55 per cent of streaming films passed the Bechdel Test, as opposed to more than half of theatrical films failing it. Likewise, streaming films and series provided more talk time to female characters in trailers, leading theatrical films by 10 percentage points and 14 percentage points, respectively.

    The report received collaboration from multiple entities within the media and entertainment industry. This includes industry bodies like the Producers Guild of India and the Active Telugu Film Producers Guild, streaming services like hoichoi, SonyLIV, Voot and ZEE5, along with leading film studios like Clean Slate Filmz, Dharma Productions, Emmay Entertainment, Excel Entertainment, Purple Pebble Pictures, RSVP and Sikhya Entertainment.

    O Womaniya! 2022 was also supported by actor Vidya Balan, who, over the last seventeen years, has led and furthered the mandate for female-led stories across theatrical and streaming films.

    Ormax Media founder and CEO Shailesh Kapoor said, “While it’s no surprise that female representation in mainstream entertainment is low, the degree of skew, such as 10:90 on some key parameters, should be a wake-up call. While streaming titles, especially series, are more women-inclusive in on and off-screen representation, theatrical films continue to perform very poorly, and in fact, have shown no positive growth at all since the previous report, which covered content released in 2019 & 2020. We hope that this report serves as a starting point for the industry to come together and discuss ways to address the evident imbalance.”

    Sharing his thoughts on the findings, Film Companion founder and editor Anupama Chopra said, “Data is essential to understanding how drastically skewed the gender equation in the Indian film industry is. O Womaniya! provides us with the starting point for discussion and debate. Starting out as an effort by Ormax Media and Film Companion, the initiative has now found resonance with the entire industry. The support that we have received from film bodies, streaming services, and studios is heartening. We will continue to build on this momentum and hopefully lead the way to change.”

    Talking about the significance of the report, Prime Video head of originals Aparna Purohit commented, “While there have been improvements in female representation in Indian entertainment, there hasn’t been any data-backed report in India that can hold a mirror up to the current reality. O Womaniya! 2022 fills the much-needed gap with its rich insights. We are thrilled to join hands with Ormax Media and Film Companion on an initiative that is in sync with our philosophy on equitable representation. The report serves as a good starting point to initiate discussions on the need to involve more women, particularly in decision-making roles, as that has a ripple effect on inclusivity in the entire ecosystem. Change has to be persistent and intentional, and we need to take constant steps to improve these numbers year after year.”

    Elaborating on the role of streaming in improving female representation, she added, “Streaming services have certainly opened the doors for more inclusive storytelling that provides greater opportunities for women. Streaming has given voice to more female storytellers, resulting in an increase in stories that are driven by female characters with agency. At Prime Video, we have rolled out an inclusion policy playbook that has institutionalised certain guidelines to ensure equal female representation on and off-screen. These range from mandatory female representation in writers’ rooms to evaluating every script on specific parameters. I am certain that streaming is going to further lead the charge on diversity, equity and inclusivity in Indian entertainment.”

    Reacting to the findings shared in the report, Vidya Balan said, “As an actor, I have noticed the change in female representation in films in the last decade and a half. From seeing just a handful of women on sets to now having women lead film-making by taking charge of direction, editing, and other key departments, we have come a long way. While this change has been underway for a while, it’s now become stronger with streaming services that have introduced the much-needed diversity in storytelling and on sets. However, the report indicates that we still have a lot of ground to cover. And this can only happen when we have more women in the boardrooms, prompting change right at the heart of decision-making.”

    “As female actors in positions of influence, we need to push for more female representation behind the camera in order to have more sensitive, authentic and relatable representation in front of it too. I am glad to be associated with the report and commend Ormax Media, Film Companion, Prime Video, and all other entities for taking the step towards documenting female representation in Indian entertainment. We now need to move the needle from intention to action, and work towards minimising and disrupting biases,” she added.

  • Zeel to create cross-platform content solutions for brands with Zee Brand Works

    Zeel to create cross-platform content solutions for brands with Zee Brand Works

    Mumbai: Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (Zeel) on Thursday announced the launch of  its brand solutions vertical Zee Brand Works.

    Zee Brand Works team will work with brands for their branding, sales augmentation, customer acquisition, new launches, content creation, influencer and integration solutions. It will provide brands and marketers with offers to enhance their reach, connect and engage with the right audience through Zee’s portfolio of TV channels, OTT platform Zee5 and social media platforms.

    Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited chief growth officer Ashish Sehgal said “As a pioneer in the Indian Media landscape, we have always had a finger on the pulse of the Indian viewer. This has helped us to develop a deep understanding of the myriad mini-Bharat’s which exist within this great nation, each with its own set of norms, sensibilities and traditions. Blending this understanding of the Indian consumer with the marketing requirements of our clientele to develop bespoke brand solutions has always been a hallmark of ZEE.”

    Zee Brand Works chief operations officer – revenue Rajiv Bakshi expressed, “Consumers are also increasingly rewarding authenticity and personalization along with purpose-driven brand alignment.”  

    He further said, “Forging a deep emotional connect and occupying a greater share of the mind is a primary challenge for both existing and emerging brands. Zee Brand Works will further boost our endeavor to build brands’ resonance and sales in Hindi-speaking markets (HSM) and regional market clusters by employing the team’s ingenious creativity and inherent consumer understanding. With the onset of this journey, we are excited to partner with like-minded marketers and augment their growth strategies.”

    Zee Brand Works has also introduced new programs keeping audience reach across brands. It will focus on designing product launches that offer brands visibility, importance, and traction leveraging Zee’s network robustness across linear TV, OTT, on-ground and social.  

    It will also focus on offering creative solutions to young entrepreneurs to give exposure to their key successes, and contribution to companies’ success and growth.

    Zee Brand Works’ work for clients such as Pedigree, Dabur Honey Fitness, Ultra Tech Baat Ghar Ki, etc. has won accolades and it is working with advertisers such as GSK India, Pedigree, P&G, UltraTech Cement, Perfetti Van Melle, Philips India, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, Mankind Pharma, MTR Foods, Asian Paints, Swiggy and Amazon amongst others.

  • ZEE5 launches “Paper Rocket” series by Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi

    ZEE5 launches “Paper Rocket” series by Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi

    Mumbai: Paper Rocket is all set to launch on 29 July, 2022. The heart-warming tale is directed by Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi and produced by Sreenidhi Sagar of Rise East Production.

    Centred around human emotions, the series features Kalidas Jayaram and Tanya Ravichandran in lead roles, and takes a philosophical approach towards life and focuses on finding happiness in every aspect of life.

    Not only has the remarkable music of Paper Rocket captivated everyone’s imagination, but its recently released trailer has left everyone awestruck. The trailer launch was billed as one of the biggest launch events ever for any web series, and was attended by the who’s who of the Chennai movie industry.

    Speaking about the launch of the series, ZEE5 chief business officer Manish Kalra said, “After the success of the movie Veetla Vishesham, we are happy to add another gem – Paper Rocket – to our content library within the month of July. With great music, the series is a heart-warming tale that encapsulates the ups and downs of life. At ZEE5, our aim is to expand the entertainment canvas by providing the audience with content in a wide variety of genres. We are sure that Paper Rocket is another series that audiences will love.”

    Adding to it, ZEEL chief cluster officer-South Siju Prabhakaran said, “The series on ZEE5 is consistently garnering a spectacular response. Directed by Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi, it throws light on what life is all about. I am happy that it has come out very well. I hereby request members of the press and the audience to watch this series and extend their support.”

    Director Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi is very excited about the premiere. He added, “Paper Rocket is special and close to my heart. The entire process of materialising this series endowed upon me an enjoyable experience. This series involves some of the biggest names in the industry. While series-based Thriller genres often become the cherry-pick for any OTT platform owing to its success graph, I would like to thank ZEE5 for banking trust on Paper Rocket and facilitating a wide release. Sreenidhi Sagar is the best producer I have worked with till date. The actors have elevated the intensity of the script with their phenomenal performances, and the technicians have adorned it with their impeccable contribution. Sound Design has played a prominent part in this series, and I thank Tapas Nayak sir for his wonderful work. I can assure you all that Paper Rocket will endow you with a good experience.”

    Actor-producer Udhayanidhi Stalin said, “Firstly, I would like to thank ZEE5. This series will be a success, and I extend my advance wishes for its success to the entire cast and crew, who have been a part of it. Although Kiruthiga had lots of personal issues while making this series, she has done a great job by completing it successfully. This project is very dear to her and she really has exerted herself on this with a lot of hard work. She has made good, entertaining movies that have lots of importance for love and romance, but whenever I approach her asking if she has got any scripts for me, it would be just ‘crime-thrillers.’ I am glad her dedication has shaped this project. I wish everyone on the team great success in this series.”

    Producer Sreenidhi Sagar said, “I thank my film crew for this movie for their earnest dedication to this project. As a producer, I am completely satisfied and happy with the way Paper Rocket has shaped up. Both the actors and technicians are the main reasons behind making this series achieve a fabulous output. I ask everyone to watch this series and support it.”

  • TCH 2022: Experts discuss the secret sauce of OTT storytelling to keep the audience engaged

    TCH 2022: Experts discuss the secret sauce of OTT storytelling to keep the audience engaged

    Mumbai: The craft is constantly changing in OTT space. Every few months, the rules keep changing. The business players are still looking for the secret sauce. They are still trying to figure out and grapple with what kind of content works. How are the tastes of the audience changing? It’s highly dynamic, and to decipher this unique situation, on the sixth edition of Indiantelevision.com’s ‘The Content Hub Summit 2022,’ held in Mumbai, the media and entertainment industry experts shared their insights on the topic, “The legion of OTT content creators: Storytelling has never been on such an exciting journey.”

    The session had the presence of Pratilipi Studios business head Ambesh Tiwari, Sony Pictures Entertainment head – StudioNext Indranil Chakraborty, Roy Kapur Films head-originals Jinesh Shah, ZEE5 chief content officer, Hindi Originals Nimisha Pandey, Warner Bros Discovery head of original content – South Asia Sai Abishek and Juggernaut Productions (OTT) chief executive officer Samar Khan.

    The panel was moderated by Bodhitree Multimedia managing director Mautik Tolia.

    The summit was presented by Viacom18, and co-powered by Applause Entertainment & IN10 Media Network. Aaj Tak Connected Stream was the association partner. Industry partners were Fremantle India, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, One Take Media, Pratilipi, Pocket FM and The Viral Fever. The Indian Motion Pictures Producers’ Association (IMPPA) was our community partner.

    The discussion began with an awareness of these experts’ attempts to break into the mainstream content market. Is it through design that has been attempted to build a specialisation, or any secret sauce, or is it just an accident?

    Khan noted that it was by design; “There is no secret sauce. The sauce is essentially that you really have to work hard and you have to go out there and find new stories because everybody will agree to the fact that it’s becoming difficult to find new stories because so many shows are being made, so you have to go out there and find people and say, “Give me something that is going to be a little different from what is already there, so it’s just the search for new stories that keeps me going.”

    When asked for the insights and secrets of some interesting products coming out like the Swami Nithyananda Show (My Daughter Joined a Cult) and Secrets Of Sinauli, the experts said that we’re maturing in the non-fiction space. 

    Speaking in this context, Abishek commented that viewers are generally looking at consuming good content but also focusing on the storytelling to make it slightly more cinematic than people are used to generally consuming. “We’re attempting to marry entertainment, which has previously been considered niche, and documentary, which has, unfortunately, not been the most popular genre. Oh, it’s boring or it’s too niche or things like that!”

    Continuing the conversation, Pandey expressed her thoughts when asked if there are any unique elements in a show that she looks for as the secret sauce. What are the essential ingredients required to commission a show?

    She mentioned there is no secret sauce available but the four main recipes that must be followed in order to stand out from the crowd are, first and foremost, a realistic real-world setting. Second, a fascinating story without any shortcuts. Third, a real character with different shades, and finally, a strong passion to create the show.

    Discussing ahead with Shah, Tolia highlighted the different formats of story-telling and its dynamics. He asked Shah, What are the lessons learned and challenges encountered during the transition to the long-form format (web-series) from the movie format?

    The process started from an organic place, so the challenge was different from the television writers & film writers. As an OTT writer, we took some training sessions from experienced writers, show runners, and creators from across the world to help put a process together. It is the alignment of all the cooks (writers, show runners, and creators) that helped us in making this sauce, said Shah.

    Watch the complete session on the link below: 

  • Tata Play Binge brings bengali entertainment by onboarding hoichoi

    Tata Play Binge brings bengali entertainment by onboarding hoichoi

    Mumbai: Diversifying its content offerings, content distribution platform Tata Play (formerly known as Tata Sky) has added its 13th OTT platform, Hoichoi, to Tata Play Binge. The integration carries forward Binge’s objective of providing users access to content from across all OTT platforms in multiple languages, as well as easing the process of content discovery. With the incorporation of SVF Entertainment, owned and maintained by Hoichoi, users will have access to a library of movie titles and 100+ original series in Bengali. Enabling a wider audience appeal, the key shows are also dubbed and presented in Hindi. The content bouquet can be enjoyed with subtitles through large-screen connected devices—Tata Play Binge+ Android Set Top Box and Tata Play edition of the Amazon FireTV Stick—along with the Tata Play Binge mobile app and the website.

    Tata Play chief commercial and content officer Pallavi Puri said, “Entertainment in the digital age is breaking barriers of language and borders, leading to a widened horizon for content discovery. This allows viewers to choose their titles based on storylines and not restrict themselves to a particular language or region. With this partnership, we aim to take Hoichoi’s vast Bengali movie and original series collection to the whole of India and diversify the watch preferences of the viewers. “

    Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta said, “As a brand, Hoichoi always aims to provide quality entertainment across the nation and globe and to as many people as possible. This partnership with Tata Play Binge takes us a step closer to that goal. With this collaboration, we can reach a wider audience and have our content on a platform that traverses language barriers, and we are glad to be doing this.”

    Hoichoi has shows and movies across genres, like Eken Babu, Hello!, Rekka, Mandaar, Indu, Haami, Tiktiki, Srikanto, Mon2 Pilot, Feludar Goyendagiri, “Byomkesh,” “Cheeni,” “Dwitiyo Purush,” “Tasher Ghawr,” “Refugee,” and many more.

    Hoichoi joins 12 OTT platforms on Binge – Disney+ Hotstar, ZEE5, SonyLIV, Voot Select, SunNxt, Hungama Play, Eros Now, ShemarooMe, Voot Kids, CuriosityStream, EPIC ON and DocuBay. 

  • Content consumption on OTT apps increases the growth of smartphone users, finds ZEE5 Intelligence Monitor research

    Content consumption on OTT apps increases the growth of smartphone users, finds ZEE5 Intelligence Monitor research

    Mumbai: Over 50 percent of smartphone users in the metros are planning to replace their gadgets within the next six months, according to a research conducted by the OTT platform ZEE5.

    In its fourth edition knowledge series ‘ZEE5 Intelligence Monitor’ report, the video streaming platform highlighted the latest trends prevailing in the Indian smartphone industry.

    The ZEE5 research discovered the consumption of an exciting and wide variety of content on OTT apps is another new driver for this upward movement. The post-covid trend is to grab the latest model; with latest features’ scoring well above price as the key motivator.

    The research also found that brand reputation, features and technology are the leading factors that determine consumers’ preferences. Moreover, two out of five viewers intend to purchase a phone which costs Rs 30,000 or above; with a higher tendency among the 35-44 age group. Besides uncovering the fascinating new consumer behaviour and the contrasting preferences between metro and non-metro consumers in their smartphones’ purchase and usage, the ‘ZEE5 Intelligence Monitor – Smartphones Consumer Insights and Trends Report’ also highlighted the symbiotic relationship between smartphones and OTT platforms.

    Launching the report, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises chief operations officer – revenue Rajiv Bakshi said, “By deep diving into the smartphones segment, we have unearthed amazing new insights on user behaviour which can lead the brand marketers to attract millions of customers eager to upgrade and replace their smartphones. We hope this report will act as a guidebook for marketeers and smartphone brands and serve to be distinctive for the industry at large. Marketers and business leaders can use these findings to make smarter business decisions and hyper-target campaigns utilising the ZEE5 platform to connect with audiences in 12 languages.”

    The report also said that 70 per cent of the non-metro respondents are inclined to buy their next smartphone online. The research revealed that men are more brand conscious and have twice the share of women consumers in the Rs 50,000+ segment. Women appear price and deal-conscious & dominate the Rs 10,000 segment.  

    ZEE5 Intelligence Monitor report also uncovered transformative consumer behaviour, attitudes, and aspirations across multiple industries ranging from e-commerce, EdTech, and online gaming to smartphones, presenting an unmatched opportunity to advertisers to access a hyper-enriched predisposed audience cohort across multiple demographics and geographies.

  • Voiro has always helped publishers to understand & manage their revenue better: Kavita Shenoy

    Voiro has always helped publishers to understand & manage their revenue better: Kavita Shenoy

    Launched back in 2014, Voiro is a revenue management product suite for media houses and digital publishers. It consolidates diverse technologies & multiple sources of revenue. A data technology company, Voiro brings automation and intelligence to media organisations across the world, enabling them to make data-driven business decisions.

    Currently, Voiro cpowers many OTT players, digital publishers & media houses in India. The company says that it is trusted by prominent OTT players and publishers such as Disney+ Hotstar, Voot, BookMyShow, Zee5, OLX, Flipkart, and DSTV (South Africa).

    Co-founded by Kavita Shenoy & Anand Gopal, Voiro Technologies positions itself as being India’s first definitive revenue analytics and technology stack for content, media and publishing. Voiro’s engineering products that power revenue optimization & workflow automation for ad-led companies. Its SaaS based product harnesses the power of data to track ad inventory in real-time and gives their customers instant access to actionable intelligence.

    The company’s technology has driven colossal live events year after year such as the IPL, the Oscars, Bigg Boss and Big Billion Day. The company has already raised ₹2.5 crore in a pre-Series A round from crowdfunding platform 1Crowd’s investor community and angel fund. The funding has propelled it to grow ~4x in the last year, pushing the annual recurring revenue (ARR) towards the ~$1mm mark that helped the company to bag its first international customer.

    An ex-googler and a tech-aficionado, Shenoy heads business strategy and development at Voiro. She is one of the few Indian women entrepreneurs who has carved out her niche and solidified her position in the tech and SaaS space. She believes that technology is an enabler and has the power to revolutionise & drive business, which is Voiro’s core strategy. She is devoted to solving problems faced by media houses, digital publishers and top OTT players in India, which is bringing the digital/operational transformation as well as helping to become future-ready.

    She is an undergraduate major in Economics from the University of Mumbai and began her career in advertising, with Lowe Lintas where she managed some of the country’s largest consumer brands. At Tirage Worldwide, she handled media consultancy & experiential marketing for various businesses. She proved her prowess in the content analytics domain by spearheading the launch of Doubleclick YouTube in India & South East Asia.

    At Google, she conceptualised & delivered compliant launches & programmes in media platform policies through advocacy and governance frameworks. Having worked intensively with large advertiser programs for Google, she used her deep understanding & knowledge of the space to identify gaps that existed between advertisers & publishers. Armed with this insight, she founded Voiro which was at the intersection of data meets technology, which is a strong central need in the market currently.

    At Voiro, she has been working hard to scale up the company and to build a dominating presence not only in India but also in the overseas markets. She has been leading a lean, agile, expert team towards steady growth over the past six years. She envisions Voiro being the SaaS partner of choice to all the major content companies in the world. 

    Indiantelevision.com caught up with founder & CEO Kavita Shenoy to find out more on the company’s plans.

    By Ashwin Pinto

    Excerpts: 

    On the market gap she witnessed in 2014 when Voiro was launched

    Voiro was built to address a gap on the publisher side of the advertising industry. That was a time when the use of data in digital advertising was only just beginning to proliferate, but a large part of the evolution was on the advertiser side. We realised that publishers were going to grapple with new data-related problems, and we set out to solve some of those. 

    The company evolved its offerings over the years

    The core problem that Voiro solves has always been to help publishers understand and manage their revenue better. And what has changed is that more & more sectors face similar challenges, so our product has evolved to serve not just media / OTT businesses, but also e-commerce, telecom and potentially gaming. Essentially, anyone who makes money from digital advertising.

    On the product front, we have been able to go deeper into our problem space every year. For example, we began with just revenue reporting, but have moved into workflow automation, as well as insights and recommendations. In short, anything to help publishers make more money from their ad inventories.

    On the goals for this year

    Our focus for this year is growth. We see the industry expanding, our target customer is growing, and we know that the problems we solve are problems that every publisher faces at some point in their growth journey. Our goal for the year is to ride this wave and take our products to more customers and geographies. 

    On how Voiro is leveraging growth in the OTT space

    OTT has for many years been our core focus, and we work with nearly all of India’s large OTT players. Our goals are to grow our presence in the OTT space abroad, while also ensuring that we take our product to other promising sectors such as e-commerce.

    On the challenge that media & entertainment companies face in being data first

    Today, collecting data is never a problem, especially for any business in the media space. Putting that data to good use is a completely different problem. We see businesses across our target sectors struggle to organise their wealth of data, ask the right questions, and put the data to use in a way to help drive growth. It is because growth is the only thing that matters to these businesses; just having data is not enough.

    On Voiro’s recently launched revenue reconciliation product

    Revenue reconciliation is at the heart of what Voiro does, and is built to answer a single crucial question for publishers: “How much have I earned so far?”

    Digital advertising is incredibly dynamic, and advertising campaigns are subject to extensions, truncations, changes in targeting, and several other situations that affect the delivery of these campaigns. For a media business to understand the state of delivery of several hundreds of parallel campaigns can be challenging, and borders on impossible at a large enough scale.

    Revenue reconciliation automates this process for publishers, helping them understand how much money they have made at any point in time, where it came from, and what they should do to grow.

    On finding the right product market fit in a rapidly evolving media & entertainment industry

    Although media and entertainment businesses are rapidly evolving, the core problem that Voiro solves are the revenue visibility and management – is constant. A business could make money via direct sales or programmatic, from India or abroad, via their website, app or streaming platform. As long as they sell ads, we can help them. And to that extent, product-market fit has not been a challenge to find. 

    On the evolution of ad tech from where it was a few years ago

    As with the broader industry, adtech is constantly evolving. Products have appeared that solve all kinds of problems on either side of the advertising equation.

    But for both publishers and advertisers, the challenge is this: building an adtech stack is easy. Getting the most out of the stack, making sure all the parts work together, and building the right organization around that stack, are the most important questions about adtech today.

    OTT platforms need to be more innovative in terms of offering solutions to advertisers

    OTT platforms are constantly experimenting with the solutions that they offer advertisers. In fact, to use a prominent example, the growth of IPL ad revenue over the years is due in large part to Star’s willingness to experiment & innovate.

    Advertisers are always looking for new ways to reach their customers, just so long as the value is clear. Therefore, OTT platforms are always going to continue to look for new ways to earn their next marketing dollar.

    On whether the lack of single currency measurement for digital is hurting the revenues that OTT platforms get

    Measurement is an essential aspect of advertising. Advertisers have been willing to accept a variety of measurement metrics for digital marketing, which led to the growth of performance marketing. So on the contrary, this has probably helped grow digital ad revenues, rather than hurt them. However, all publishers (including OTT platforms) must be aware that advertisers will always seek a balance between brand and performance spends. The publishers will always have to look for better and more accurate ways to demonstrate outcomes, even more so as ad rates rise and if businesses are under economic pressure.

    On platforms needing to improve the ability to deliver ads in the right context

    The challenge here is to achieve micro targeting in a cookie-less world. And inevitably, the answer is for publishers (including OTT platforms) to make use of first-party data. A platform that is able to truly leverage their first-party data will outperform the one that does not, and should be able to command a significant premium for their ad inventory.

    On the role of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) when it comes to content & advertising on OTT platforms

    AR and VR, at this point, are very nascent technologies, even more so in markets like India. It may be a while yet before we see commercial-scale content and advertising making use of AR and VR, but smart advertisers and publishers are always going to keep an eye out for opportunities.

    On how she observes Viacom18 faring with the digital rights of the IPL in the next five years.

    The bids for IPL rights, as expected, were significantly higher than the 2017-22 auction, and the winners are going to find it challenging to make a profitable business of it. Regarding the digital rights, it is clear that Viacom18 will have to explore all possible monetisation routes: subscriptions, advertising and transactions.

    We see their road ahead in three parts: first, ensuring that they win over all the viewership that Hotstar has amassed over the last five years; this will by no means be automatic. Second, building the infrastructure to deliver advertising at scale to this audience. And finally, pulling out all the stops to maximize their ad revenue over five years. This last part will be hard; Viacom18 will have to really innovate to create more ad spots, formats and properties to monetise, as well as demonstrating real value to advertisers so as to command premium rates.

    On whether it is mainly going to be a subscription play

    It is hard to see the winners being able to monetise their rights solely via subscriptions. India has been a hard market to win over from a subscriber point of view; this is most easily seen in Netflix & Disney’s performance over the last two years. These companies, both running massive and successful global subscription businesses, have both struggled to match that success in India. For the winners, the next five years has to be about a combination of advertising & subscriptions.