Executive Dossier

International Art Machine’s content lens

Published

4 years ago

April 20, 2022

Soon after moving on as president of Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Studios, Los Angeles-based media executive Roy Price booked a flight to Hong Kong to incorporate the name ‘International Art Machine.’ A journalistic outfit reported that Price was resuscitating his career as an art dealer but the simpler truth is that he was planning his comeback in the content business.

Price is the executive behind many of Prime Video’s Emmy and Golden Globe-winning shows like “Fleabag,” “Marvellous Mrs Maisel,” “The Boys,” “Maid In Heaven,” and “Patriot” during his over 13-year association with the global streamer. Prior to Amazon, he was a consultant at global management consultancy McKinsey and Co. He also ran content development for Walt Disney Content Animation.

With International Art Machine, Price has hit the ground running by announcing three projects in association with known names from the Indian media and entertainment industry. This includes projects like Amish Tripathi’s “The Shiva Trilogy” helmed by Shekhar Kapur and Suparn S Varma, “The Kitty Party” with Preity G Zinta and “Gods” with Dibakar Banerjee.

Roy’s vision is to create originals that will move the needle in their local markets while at the same time whetting the appetite of an international audience. Just the kind of shows that global streamers are desperately trying to make. Netflix has had some success with shows like “Squid Game,” “Money Heist,” and “Dark” and Prime Video showcased the Bong Joon-ho’s acclaimed film “Parasite” but Price believes the best is yet to come.

In a freewheeling conversation with IndianTelevision.com International Art Machine founder and CEO Roy Price speaks about shuttling between Mumbai and Tokyo, assembling his team, the potential of the ‘Shiva trilogy’ and more.

Edited Excerpts:

On being mistaken for an art gallery

There was an article at one point that I was starting an art gallery and that tells you something about the importance of careful journalism because I’ve never been in the fine art business in my life. I guess someone just looked at the name of the company and decided that was the news story. People perceived it as a sophisticated name, so I never corrected it with anyone.

On setting up International Art Machine

When I left Amazon, the major theme I felt in international TV was the growth of Asian originals coming from Mumbai to Tokyo. Almost immediately I booked a ticket and was in Hong Kong and Mumbai within a week. I set up International Art Machine with a vision for a studio that could work locally and serve the growing multinational streamers. I called the studio International Art Machine because I think of TV and film as art. Not because we deal in paintings…although we could extend it to NFTs.

Primarily, we’re looking at Asian originals as we’ve seen content like “Parasite,” “Squid Game,” “Drive My Car” mostly from Korea come from Asia since 2017. This trend is going to continue Asia-wide and I knew this was the place to be.

First, I set up in Hong Kong as it was a convenient mid-point between Tokyo, Seoul, and Mumbai but then switched corporate headquarters to Singapore. Karishma (Naina Sharma) is based in Mumbai and I’m based in LA going back and forth to Mumbai and Tokyo, though mostly on Zoom now.

Focus on Asian markets

India, South Korea and Japan are the primary markets followed by Indonesia. There’s China but it is more complicated than it used to be. There’s a robust market in Asia for the kind of international series that we tend to focus on.

The studio’s content lens

We want to create a series that could work for the global streamers. Not to say that they primarily cater to international audiences but they have the scope that global streamers are looking for. They would move the needle in a given country and be led by fantastic talent. It should also have the chance to travel and be appreciated elsewhere just for its terrific quality.

At the end of the day, streamers want the kind of ambitious shows that are going to stand out in the market. Those shows don’t always have massive special effects or tremendous budgets but are usually creatively ambitious, and have a great team and spellbinding storytelling. It could be like a “Game of Thrones” or something much more personal. For a streaming service, the shows that really make a difference are the top few shows of the year. These top shows will drive 80 percent growth of the platform and bring people through the door. Those are valuable shows.

Those kinds of shows tend to be non-intuitive game-changers. The thing they have in common is that they’re trying to be different, trying to be new, and tend to have ambitious teams. That’s our mindset and we’re trying to internalise that perspective and find exactly that kind of show.

ALSO READ | International Art Machine forays into India, unveils content lineup

On the potential of the “Shiva trilogy”

The “Shiva trilogy” just seemed like the ultimate web series that had to be made. To bring Shekhar (Kapur), Suparn (S Varma) and Amish (Tripathi) together to tell the story of the novels would make for a compelling watch. To be honest, ‘Shiva’ is a multi-dimensional and complicated character that lends to an interesting story. That’s why the novels have done so well. The Shiva trilogy is a story that delves deep into the complexities of mankind. It is layered with philosophy that’s not only relatable but as relevant then as it is now. We’re really excited about this series and it fits with what we want to do. It is going to be done in the best possible way and will move the needle in India and even outside of India could be interested in the show.

On creating a show that has legs to travel outside of India

It is a matter of time before we see a show coming from India that is a global success. There wasn’t a Korean show that really travelled before “Squid Game.” There really hasn’t been a Japanese one either that has been a global hit. We’ve only been making web series and higher budget series for a few years and the number of shows is still small. As there are more shows and ideas, I’m sure we’ll see a global hit from India. There are so many stories and storytellers that one of them is certainly going to catch on more broadly.

It is a mistake to overthink it and try to create a show that appeals to a global audience but misses the mark with the local market. We’re going to do it the right way for the local market and it’s going to catch on elsewhere because it is a great show.

On the timeline to bring projects to screen

I would like to sit down in Mumbai and watch some of these projects on TV by next year. We’re looking at finishing some of them by the end of this year or at the beginning of the following year. The safer bet would be to actually premiere at the beginning of 2024 but it really depends on what happens in the next four to five months.

Web series or film?

At the moment, we’re doing a web series. We’re inventing the web series process as we go along. Since India has only produced so many web shows to date, there are only so many writers who’ve worked on it. As more writers get experience working on web series in the next decade it’ll be easier to create TV shows. We’re working on the scripts for our current projects and are excited to move forward with them.

There’s such an exciting market in India for film that it is easier to do. The process of filmmaking is well oiled in Mumbai because that’s what the industry has been working on for a long time. It is definitely tempting to work with some of the great filmmakers and move into the film side later on.

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Executive Dossier

Game on, fame on as Good Game hunts India’s first global gaming star

Published

2 weeks ago

January 27, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Game faces on, pressure high India’s gaming ambitions are levelling up. Good Game, billed as the world’s first as-live global gaming reality show, has officially launched in India with a bold mission: to crown the country’s first Global Gaming Superstar.

Blending esports with mainstream entertainment, the show brings together competitive gaming, creativity and on-camera performance in a format that tests more than just joystick skills. Contestants will be judged on gameplay, screen presence and their ability to perform under pressure, reflecting how gaming has evolved from pastime to profession and pop culture currency.

Fronting the show are three high-profile ambassadors: actor and entrepreneur Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Indian cricket star Rishabh Pant, and gaming creator Ujjwal Chaurasia. The winner will take home Rs 1 crore ($100,000) among the largest prize pools for any Indian reality show along with the chance to represent India on a global stage.

Backed by a planned annual investment of up to Rs 100 crore, Good Game is also courting brand partners, promising a minimum reach of 500 million among India’s core youth audience. The creators position the show as a bridge between entertainment and interactive culture, offering long-format content, community engagement and commercial scale.

Auditions are now open to Indian citizens aged 18 and above, inviting amateur and professional gamers, creators and performers alike. Shortlisted candidates will be called for in-person auditions in Mumbai on 14 and 15 February, and in Delhi on 28 February and 1 March 2026.

With big money, big names and even bigger ambition, Good Game signals a shift in how India views gaming not just as play, but as performance, profession and prime-time spectacle.

Digital

SpotDraft hires new CMO and CFO to fuel global push for its AI contract platform

Published

2 months ago

December 3, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

INDIA: SpotDraft has strengthened its senior ranks as it gears up for faster global expansion, naming Alon Waks as chief marketing officer and Amit Sharma as chief financial officer. The appointments follow the firm’s $54 million Series B round earlier this year and mark a push to scale across the Americas, EMEA and India.

The AI-powered contract-lifecycle-management platform has posted 100 per cent year-on-year growth in customer acquisition, counting Apollo.io, IPSY, Mixpanel, Oyster and Panasonic among its global clients. The firm processes more than one million contracts annually, with volumes up 173 per cent and nearly 50,000 monthly active users.

Waks, a veteran of Kustomer, Bizzabo, CreatorIQ, LivePerson and ZoomInfo, will steer global marketing and category positioning as legal teams adopt AI-driven tools. Sharma, who has led finance across scaling tech firms since 2016, will guide financial strategy, investor relations and market expansion.

Both hires aim to sharpen SpotDraft’s bid for a larger slice of the fast-growing legal-tech market, expected to exceed $63 billion by 2032. Co-founder and chief executive Shashank Bijapur said the company is focused on scaling go-to-market operations in the Americas, deepening leadership in EMEA, and accelerating AI capabilities for general counsels and legal-operations leaders.

Clients report shorter deal cycles and better alignment between legal and business teams. “What used to take weeks now happens in days,” said Abnormal Security senior legal operations manager Susan Koenig. DeepL head of legal operations André Barrow, said SpotDraft has helped reframe legal “from a cost centre to a generator of revenue”.

Executive Dossier

Outdoor Ads Get Smarter as LOC8 Shifts OOH from Visibility to Attention

Published

3 months ago

November 28, 2025

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Out-of-home ads were once the wallflowers of marketing seen by everyone, noticed by few. But in an age where attention has become the world’s most fought-over currency, even billboards are getting a brain upgrade. Enter LOC8, OSMO’s AI-powered attention engine, quietly reshaping the old OOH playbook by measuring not just who could have looked at an ad, but who actually did. The shift is subtle but seismic: impressions are out, impact is in and data, not gut instinct, is calling the shots.

In a landscape where marketers question every rupee spent outdoors, LOC8 is turning lampposts, flyovers and traffic islands into precision-mapped attention laboratories. By crunching dwell time, visibility zones, perceptual size and real-world obstructions, the platform is dragging OOH into a future where creativity meets computer vision and where the best ideas aren’t just eye-catching, but eye-measured. From automotive facelifts to FMCG novelty and real estate trust-building, the message is clear, outdoor has stopped shouting and started listening. Indian Television Dot Com explores more about it in an Interview interview with OSMO co-founder Nipun Arora.

On how OSMO is shifting outdoor advertising from a visibility-led medium to an attention-led one through LOC8.

Traditional OOH has long been measured by visibility and impressions i.e how many people could see an ad. OSMO, through its proprietary AI platform LOC8, is shifting that narrative more towards likelihood of being noticed. Using computer vision and machine learning, LOC8 analyzes real-world video data to measure visibility zones, obstructions, dwell time and perceptual size; bringing precision to how attention is quantified outdoors. It moves the focus from mere impressions to quality of impressions, making OOH a data-verified, attention-led medium comparable to digital in accountability.

On how marketers can use LOC8’s dwell-time, visibility and perception insights to craft more effective, emotionally resonant OOH campaigns.

LOC8 helps brands understand how people truly experience outdoor media how long they look, from what distance, and under what conditions. By quantifying dwell time, visibility duration, and perceptual size; marketers can plan campaigns that align with real human viewing behavior. This empowers creative and strategy teams to design emotionally resonant storytelling where messaging, visual hierarchy and placement are optimized for how people actually notice and process OOH creatives.

About what LOC8 has revealed through campaigns like Renault Triber and Namaste India on how categories such as auto, FMCG and real estate use attention metrics to drive outcomes.

Each category uses attention data differently but all share one common goal: to convert outdoor visibility into measurable engagement.

• Automotive | Renault Triber

For the new Renault Triber facelift, bold creative met data-led planning through LOC8. By analyzing on-ground video data, LOC8 measured real audience attention across placements factoring in visibility zones, obstructions, traffic speed and perceptual size. This enabled Renault to identify corridors that delivered maximum reach, saliency and engagement, optimizing media efficiency and ROI.

• FMCG | Namaste India

In OOH, innovation is the hook and assets are the bait. But bait often hides the hook. With Loc8’s attention metrics, we ensured the bait wasn’t a hurdle, rather it became the perfect stage for innovation to deliver its full impact! The insight proved that creative novelty, when validated by attention data, drives deeper engagement and measurable brand lift.

• Real Estate

For luxury and real estate campaigns targeting HNI/UHNI audiences, attention patterns differ especially between front and rear passengers, who are often the core audience segment for premium sites. LOC8’s ability to distinguish rear vs. front visibility plays a critical role here. It helps identify sites that offer longer viewing windows and stronger perceptual dominance from the rear seat where decision-makers are most likely seated making it a key differentiator for premium and trust-led categories. Together, these insights prove that auto optimizes for impact, FMCG for recall, and real estate for trust visibility showing how attention metrics adapt to category goals while ensuring measurable outcomes.

On how attention analytics will shape the future of brand storytelling and media planning as OOH becomes more digitised and data-driven.

As outdoor digitizes, attention analytics will inform not just where to advertise but how stories are told in public spaces. This evolution transforms OOH from a static broadcast channel into a dynamic attention ecosystem, where creativity is optimized through evidence-based insight.

On how LOC8’s data-led framework helps marketers quantify OOH impact and make outdoor a more accountable, ROI-driven medium.

LOC8 bridges the gap between intuition and evidence. By quantifying metrics like visibility duration, attention opportunity index, and visual saliency rank, it allows brands to benchmark site performance and justify investment. This data-led approach brings transparency, comparability and ROI measurement to a medium historically driven by perception.

On how OSMO ensures AI and computer vision enhance creativity rather than reduce it to numbers.

OSMO believes that technology should enhance creativity, not overshadow it. LOC8’s attention models reveal what naturally draws the human eye helping creative teams refine design cues, contrast, and visual hierarchy for greater impact. By merging art and science, LOC8 empowers creativity with intelligence.

About the creative best practices and design cues LOC8 has uncovered regarding what truly captures consumer attention outdoors.

LOC8’s visual cognition analysis has surfaced clear patterns across campaigns:

• High contrast and minimal messaging outperform cluttered designs.

• Motion cues draw significantly longer dwell times.

• The first two seconds are critical, creatives must establish focus instantly.

• Contextual alignment between the creative and its environment increases attention by over 30%.

These learnings offer a scientific foundation for creative effectiveness helping brands design OOH that’s visually magnetic and emotionally memorable.

On how attention metrics will integrate into omnichannel planning where OOH, digital and social work together for unified brand impact.

Attention can become the unifying KPI across OOH, digital and social to creates seamless storytelling continuity, where outdoor triggers digital engagement. The future of omnichannel planning lies in attention-led integration ensuring that campaigns don’t just reach audiences everywhere but truly capture and hold their focus.