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Tag: hungama.com

  • In addition to this, a significant technology upgrade has brought in seamless streaming on 2G networks ensuring an uninterrupted playback

    Hungama Music launches original audio series ‘Mera Wala Music’

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hungama Music has launched a host of new programming initiatives and an application upgrade that offers a new experience for music lovers and subscribers of the service. Mera Wala Music – an original audio series unveils the story behind your favourite artists’ music. Launched with the first four artists namely, rapper Badshaah, Punjabi music sensation Diljit Dosanjh, ace composer Mithoon Sharma and talented singer Palak Muchhal – Mera Wala Music will bring the listeners closer to their favourite celebrities and their music. Each month a new set of artists will share their untold stories and relive the quirky, happy, fun moments behind some of their most loved tracks. Coming up next in this series are interesting anecdotes from Ayushman Khurana, Hard Kaur, Salim-Sulaiman and many more.

     

    Bolstered with a line-up of new content, the Hungama Music app hosts a lot of new features. The new app has been designed keeping in mind the nativity of the iOS ecosystem and has a cleaner and sleeker look with simple and intuitive user journeys offering an elevated in-app experience. In keeping with the belief that “Offline is the new Online” the app has revamped the offline experience further. The new iOS app gives users an option to download a complete playlist that is available for offline playback as against the erstwhile listing of individual songs. Hungama Music is powered by a recommendation algorithm that recommends music based on users consumption habits offering the user an endless music experience. The video experience has been augmented with a mini-player that allows users to surf the app while the video continues to play simultaneously. In addition to this, a significant technology upgrade has brought in seamless streaming on 2G networks ensuring an uninterrupted playback.

     

    Speaking about the new and improved Hungama Music app, Said Siddhartha Roy, CEO – Hungama.com: “Hungama Music has undergone a complete experience upgrade. The app is packed with a lot of new programming, feature updates and an enhanced experience for the consumers. We have expanded our original content offering and have brought on board the biggest Bollywood celebrities to share their exclusive stories with the listeners who are passionate about their music and everything around it.”

     

  • The active service will enhance DishTV’s portfolio in the field of VAS and music

    DishTV announces tie-up with Hungama

    By A Correspondent

     

    DishTV has announced a tie up with Hungama to launch Music Active. The active service will enhance DishTV’s portfolio in the field of VAS and music and provide unlimited music to its subscribers.

     

    Catering to the need of Bollywood music lovers and the other streams of music such as devotional, western, and pop music Music Active will have a good mix of Bollywood hits and Bollywood retro. Simultaneously reaching out to the music lovers of other genres, Music Active will also have international hits, international classics, devotional, ghazals, Bhojpuri, Kannada Hits, Tamil Hits and Carnatic Hits. Customers of this active service will be able enjoy uninterrupted music as unlike music channels. Music Active is completely ad free. Another important advantage for music lovers would be unlike music apps, there will be no buffering of the songs leading to steady entertainment.

     

    The service is available at an introductory price of Rs.35 till 31st October and will be priced at Rs.45 starting 1st November’15.This audio service can be availed by a simple missed call on 18002700096. The service is available free of cost from 27th Aug – 6th Sep (10 days). Music Active will be available on channel number 671 on DishTV.

     

    Speaking on the occasion, Salil Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer, DishTV said, “Being a pioneer and market leader, it has been our constant endeavor to make television viewing a wholesome experience for the entire family and to increase affinity with our audiences by providing them the choice of content they would like to watch. DishTV has always taken the lead in enhancing the value proposition and believes in providing the maximum and the best in entertainment to its subscribers. We are delighted to tie up with Hungama for launching Music Active, with the launch of Music Active, we are continuing with our legacy of offering another unique service for our consumers who are inclined towards music and will have this great opportunity to enjoy music of all genres in the close comfort of their homes.”

     

    Siddhartha Roy

    Speaking on the occasion Siddhartha Roy, CEO of Hungama.com said, “Music Active co-launched by Hungama and DishTV will bring uninterrupted and ad-free music to subscribers. We are proud to associate with the DTH service as we bring subscribers their favorite music across 10 different genres ranging from Bollywood, Regional, devotional to International, etc. I am certain that DishTV subscribers will enjoy grooving to Bollywood, regional and international music’s most popular hits and retro tracks only on Music Active.”

     

  • #50MillionKaHungama is the result of aggressive catalog additions and feature roll-outs by the digital brand

    Hungama.com crosses 50mn+ monthly active users

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hungama.com has achieved a new milestone in the Indian digital entertainment space by becoming the first company to cross 50 million monthly active users across its entertainment service. This milestone places Hungama among the top 5 music and video streaming services globally, including platforms like Pandora and Spotify.

     

    Over 250 million consumers accessed Hungama’s services over the last year, during which the platform registered 200% growth in monthly active users.

     

    Over the past 12 months, Hungama has introduced several first features as well as several key catalog additions to create an unmatched consumer experience. The fast pace of growth in mobile data adoption among consumers across the board has provided a platform for Hungama to tap into the market with its mobile-apps, leading to massive penetration in both metros, urban, semi urban and even rural India.

     

    Anticipating the market opportunity in semi urban and rural India, Hungama rolled out multi-lingual support in its Android app in October 2014. It was the first music led mobile app globally to be available in more than 5 languages when it was launched with support for Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi, along with English.

     

    In July 2014, Hungama also introduced its PRO service for Android and iOS devices. The service featured integrated video and audio downloading for the first time in a single app, along with a caching feature for music that allowed users to save their music and video which can be played without internet connection anywhere, anytime in turn saving data cost.

     

    Neeraj Roy

    Speaking on Hungama’s achievement, Neeraj Roy, MD & CEO of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment said, “We are glad to be the music & video service of choice for over 50 million South- Asians across the world. The milestone is the result of initiatives that we at Hungama began undertaking about 15 months ago. Over the next year, we plan to continue to build on this momentum to grow into newer markets and explore more avenues to distribute digital music and video. Hungama is on track to reach 100 million MAUs by March 2016.”

     

    Hungama’s patent pending gamification layer has become immensely popular with its consumers who are now rewarded for multiple actions and on a daily basis and redeem their points for a range of products and services. Whether you are listening to music or watching a video, its never been so much fun and rewarding as on Hungama.

     

  • The association, which began with the launch of the first video in March 2015, has, within a short period of its launch, registered over 1.5 lac views from across the globe

    Hungama.com unveils Studio Diaries Part 2

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hungama.com has launched the second part of the Hungama Studio Diaries by tying-up exclusively with Facebook. The Studio Diaries are video capsules of current musical icons that paid homage to Kalyanji-Anandji at the Hungama Studio launched exclusively over the social media platform.

     

    The association, which began with the launch of the first video in March 2015, has, within a short period of its launch, registered over 1.5 lac views from across the globe and has seen thousands of interactions over Hungama.com’s Facebook. The video is a montage of artists that sang the hit song ‘Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas’ created by legendary duo Kalyanji-Anandji. Musicians like Arijit Singh, Daler Mehendi, Shaan, Pritam, Amit Trivedi, Hariharan, Abhijeet and Armaan Malik are seen in the video performing their own renditions of the timeless classic at Hungama Studio.

     

    Part 2 of the Hungama Studio Diaries was unveiled exclusively on Facebook recently and will show Atif Aslam, Shraddha Kapoor, Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain, Sivamani, Leslie Lewis, Benny Dayal, Ankit Tiwari, Vasuda Sharma, Aakriti Kakkar, Kanika Kapoor and Runa Rizvi performing their renditions of Kalyanji-Anandji’s hit numbers ‘Har Kisiko Nahi Milta’ and ‘Laila O Laila’.

     

    “Speaking on the association with Facebook and success of the first video, Siddhartha Roy, CEO of Hungama.com said, “Hungama Studio has conceptualized this track to celebrate the evergreen music of Kalyanji-Anandji. The video of the renditions sung by this generation’s most loved artists has been appreciated by one and all over Facebook. The idea to exclusively launch this video over Facebook has brought about massive consumer reach and great results, seeing its success we are all set to launch the 2nd part of our video series. Our association with Facebook has been mutually beneficial, with this we hope to continue building on our space of original content and sharing this exclusively with our subscribers.”

     

  • Hungama launches campaign to focus on engaged consumers via loyalty rewards

    Hungama unveils campaign to promote new offering

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hungama.com has announced the launch of the second phase of its ‘Zindagi Ka Soundtrack’ brand campaign. The second leg of the 360 degree campaign will be following up on the successful October 2014 campaign by introducing a refreshing and lucrative new offering for their loyal consumer base – ‘Dabake Free Gifts’. This new offering seeks to make the Hungama experience even sweeter as along with the music streaming services the patrons already enjoy.

     

    With the plethora of music options to suit every mood, that Hungama has to offer, the music streaming portal is already an indispensible part of the lives of its loyal consumers. And now with ‘Dabake Free Gifts’, Hungama gives its large pool of listeners the unique opportunity to gain something more from the thing they love already.

     

    Hungama.com has handpicked prizes that appeal to its consumer base, which is mainly made up of the youth. The prizes include products from brands like Apple, Bose, Phillips, Blaupunkt, Samsung, Nokia, JBL, Lenovo, Sennheiser, Wildcraft, Portronics, Benetton, Happily Unmarried, Epitome, Chumbak, MOM Italy, etc. as well as experiences like fine dining at select five-star hotels & restaurants, holidays, etc. As an added incentive for users, Hungama will also be offering free talktime to users as a part of the rewards.

     

    Siddhartha Roy

    Commenting on the idea behind the launch of the second phase, Siddhartha Roy, CEO at Hungama.com said, “The first phase of our brand campaign received an overwhelming response from consumers, which also led to Hungama’s mobile app’s move to the top position in the download charts. As the market leader in this space, we felt it was important for us to now start communicating with our consumers about how while Hungama’s app is entertaining them, it can also simultaneously reward them. Hungama, across our multiple platforms, has the largest set of engaged active users and this campaign is our way of acknowledging their loyalty to our platform.”

     

    The TVC of the campaign will go on air from 18 January, for two weeks, across national and regional channels. The campaign will also be extended to the digital platforms. To activate the campaign on Youtube, Hungama.com has created a series of 5-second advertisements for the platform. The campaign will also be promoted via social media, where fans winning prizes will have their pictures clicked and uploaded to Hungama’s pages.

     

  • Nine weeks of Premium Hungama PRO app will be free with purchases on Snapdeal's mobile app

    Snapdeal enters into strategic tie-up with Hungama

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hungama.com has entered into a strategic partnership with Snapdeal, India’s largest online marketplace to offer digital entertainment content to its shoppers. The tie-up between the two leading digital entities will begin with an offer wherein shoppers on Snapdeal’s mobile app will get access to Hungama’s Premium PRO service free for a period of nine (9) weeks.

     

    Hungama PRO, which is a paid premium subscription service, offers users HD quality music videos with the lyrics of songs, and can be accessed offline without any internet charges. It is also an ad-free app, which further makes for a hassle-free experience. The mobile app is available for download from the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store. After the first nine weeks, the service will later be made available to the users at a price of Rs 120 per month.

     

    Both Snapdeal and Hungama have been focusing on expanding their leadership position by tapping into developing Tier-II markets. The recent update that brought transliteration features to Hungama’s Android app, made it one of the first India apps to be available in five languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Punjabi – an ideal service for Snapdeal’s userbase that is spread across 5000 plus cities and towns in India.

     

    Speaking on partnering with Snapdeal, Siddhartha Roy, CEO at Hungama.com, said: “With music and shopping being among the primary drivers of mobile internet consumption, our tie-up aims to offer users an enhanced value proposition. 2015 is likely to be a vital year for brands to out to Middle Bharat, and tie-ups like this will help our brands to attract a larger share of the consumer’s mind space.”

     

    “We at Snapdeal are focusing hugely on making sure our customers get a great shopping experience on our app. The partnership with Hungama brings shopping and music together, both are a way of life for Indian consumers. We want to encourage the growing love of apps by providing customers with what they love most –high quality uninterrupted music and awesome deals on the go,” commented Mr. Sandeep Komaravelly, SVP, Marketing at Snapdeal.com

     

  • The number of visits on the virtual mela as well as time spent surpasses any offline brand activation initiative organised during the festival in India

    GroupM’s Grand Diwali Mela draws huge response

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Grand Diwali Mela organised by GroupM in association with Google, Amazon.in, LINE, Games2Win and Hungama.com met with a huge response with over 55 lakh visitors patronising the event. The ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ saw very high engagement with users, who spent time getting product samples @ Re.1, enjoying movies and videos, playing games and greeting each other via the LINE messenger. The number of visits on the virtual mela as well as time spent surpasses any offline brand activation initiative organised during the festival in India.

     

    The event received an overwhelming response with over 55 lakh visitors, the majority of which came from mobile phones with over 45 per cent women visitors. On October 24th, Diwali day, the mela received over 4.6 lakh visitors. In all mela visitors spent over 125,000 hours browsing various brand and entertainment stalls in the mela besides which many more hours were spent on partner sites – Amazon.in, Games2win and Hungama.com.

     

    The ‘Grand Diwali Mela’ emerged as the largest online sampling platform for brands. Over 150,000 samples were shipped across India, with 70 per cent samples going to Tier 2 and Tier 3 towns. The samples ranged from skincare and household products relevant to both men and women. To celebrate the partnership LINE Messenger came out with a set of special edition stickers for the ‘Grand Diwali Mela’.

     

    CVL Srinivas
    Rajan Anandan

    On the success of the Grand Diwali Mela, CVL Srinivas, CEO, GroupM South Asia said, “We are excited about the success of the first Grand Diwali Mela. We were able to create a great platform for consumers to come and sample products and interact with brands. It is also heartening to see the reach of the virtual mela was not restricted to the metros but filtered down to smaller towns where the digital penetration is growing exponentially. We also have seen a distinct spike in access via mobile phones, a clear indicator that India is opening up readily to mobile data and communication.”

     

    Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director of Google India, said “I would like to congratulate GroupM and all the participating partners for the success of the first Grand Diwali Mela. The fact that majority of the users experienced the mela from their mobile phones goes onto show the growing importance of mobile devices in India. With over 150,000 samples being tested on the platform, the initiative is likely to open up newer ways of engaging buyers online for brands and marketers on the mobile phones. Online brand activation during festivals is a brand new territory and I am confident that we will be able to scale this further next year.”

     

  • The agency's prime mandate will be to reach out to the existing consumer base of Hungama.com and target digital music consumers across the country

    Hungama.com awards its creative mandate to Scarecrow Communications

    By A Correspondent

     

    Hungama.com has awarded its creative duties to Scarecrow Communications. With this appointment, the agency will be responsible for designing clutter breaking creative communication that further augments the presence of Hungama.com in the digital music industry.

     

    The agency’s prime mandate will be to reach out to the existing consumer base of Hungama.com and target digital music consumers across the country via 360 degree creative communications that maximise the potential of various medium including print, OOH and digital.

     

    Sidhartha Roy

    Commenting on the appointment, Siddhartha Roy, CEO at Hungama.com said, “Scarecrow Communications comes with a widespread portfolio of media and entertainment brands. With the agency’s deep understanding of the sector and innovative creative campaigns for various brands over the years, we have decided to award the creative mandate to them. We at Hungama.com look forward to a fruitful association with Scarecrow Communications that can help us drive our vision towards being a preferred music streaming service.”

     

    Raghu Bhat

    On winning the account, Raghu Bhat, Founder & Director at Scarecrow Communications said, “Hungama.com is the pioneer in digital entertainment. A new-age brand that exists resides at the cusp of devices, music, Bollywood and the internet – four forces that touch the lives of almost every Indian. We are thrilled with this mandate and will also treat this as a great learning opportunity.”

     

  • This initiative of Hungama.com will continue to foster collaboration among device manufacturers and software & hardware component providers

    Hungama. associates with Qualcomm Design & Wireless Innovation Summit

    By a correspondent

     

    Digital company Hungama.com has become a part of Qualcomm Design and Wireless Innovation Summit. This initiative of Hungama.com will continue to foster collaboration among device manufacturers and software & hardware component providers to develop devices as well as explore new business opportunities in the rapidly evolving era. This will help Hungama.com innovate and differentiate, as well as build new business relationships with other associates from hardware and digital entertainment ecosystems including Alibaba, Baidu, OmniVision, Reverie Language Technologies, Samsung Electronics (CMOS Image Sensor), SK Hynix, Sohu and Tencent.

     

    Hungama.Com will explore the following at the Qualcomm Reference Design and Wireless Innovation Summit program:

    > Innovations powered by 4G LTE and the Qualcomm  RF360™ Front End Solution

    > Regional software packages, modem configurations and testing for certain regional operator requirements

    > Potential global opportunities to help international commercialization

    > New wireless vertical opportunities

    > Hands-on commercial technology across the Snapdragon portfolio, including 4K Ultra HD, advanced camera features and the latest in graphics technologies

    > Differentiation through software, including new options for Windows Phone

     

    “The Qualcomm Reference Design (QRD) program by Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. offers industry-leading technical innovation, differentiated hardware and software and customization options that are designed to help save engineering costs and accelerate development time,” said Larry Paulson, VP of Product Management, QTI. “This is our fifth summit and it promises to be one of the most rewarding for the ecosystem that has developed around the QRD program.”

     

    To date, more than 425 commercial QRD-based devices have been launched in 21 countries and more than 40 OEMs and IDHs have commercially launched QRD-based devices. The expanded QRD portfolio includes Snapdragon 610, 615, 400, 410 and 200 processors by QTI with support for the Qualcomm RF360â„¢ Front End Solution, Qualcomm Global Pass and Windows Phone 8.1.

     

  • Hungama.com has launched a next-generation music application that plans to break the competitive digital music market and elevating the listening experience

    An Ap(p)t offering from Hungama

    By Johnson Napier

     

    Hungama.com has announced the launch of a next-generation music application that seeks to enhance the way users listen to and experience music and videos across devices. With the launch of this app, Hungama.com plans to break the competitive digital music market by not only bringing unique features but also elevating the music listening experience of users by allowing them to watch videos and socialise while streaming their favourite Bollywood, regional and international music.

     

    Sidhartha Roy

    Said Siddhartha Roy, COO Hungama, “Hungama.com has many firsts attached to our name. With the launch of the only music app with video and audio playout, and the only entertainment app that introduces a gamification and loyalty programme within the app, we are confident that we have a stellar product for our consumers.”

     

    Explaining the game-changing experience that the app will offer users, Roy said that there are primarily five features that differentiate it from all the apps out there. “First and foremost it is the great music experience- whether it is the way the app is presenting the music or the great quality it plays etc. Secondly, our music is derivative of our movies- we don’t just listen to music we watch it! Therefore we wanted to give the consumer video streaming so they may enjoy the entire musical experience. Also Hungama.com as a business has always been about music and video. It was a natural to take this visual experience onto our app as well.”

     

    He added, “We also kept in mind the fact that there are times when a consumer wants to express himself, and wants to listen to a curated playlist keeping his mood in mind. The app has a rich Mood Discovery feature that finds and plays music to match the user’s mood. This feature allows users to discover music based on their preferences – Mood, Tempo, Language, Genre or Era. And finally, the biggest game changer is our gamification and loyalty program. We are the first music app to reward the consumer for his every action on the app. With this feature, users can earn points every time they watch videos, play/share music, invite friends or create playlists. We believe this feature will increase engagement and consumer delight.”

     

    On the economics for accessing the content, Mr Roy said that the app is free to download on the iOS and Android devices with full-length music streaming and a 30 seconds preview on video streaming. If a consumer wishes to upgrade to a full length video streaming on iOS, the service costs Rs. 110 or USD 1.99 and on Android it is Rs. 50. Further more on android consumers can also download-to-own content, which is priced at Rs. 5 per music or video, he said.

     

    Explaining the monetization plan from the new service, Roy said, “The app that has been launched comes with transaction, a micro-charging model that is unique to Hungama.com, an integral part of this app. This is enabled through the telco ecosystem. As for monetization, the Hungama.com business has always been and will remain a transaction-driven business. The app is another touch point for the consumer to enjoy his music anytime, anywhere.”

     

  • The new website will be loaded with innovative applications including the 'Hungama Music Cloud' technology

    Hungama.com revamps website

    By A Correspondent

     

    Digital entertainment e-store Hungama.com has announced the launch of its revamped website www.hungama.com. The new website allows users to stream free as well as buy the very best of Indian and international content, including music tracks, music videos and streaming full-length movies.

     

    The new website is powered by HTML5 technology which will provide a vivid user interface, multiple music applications and easy social connect options; allowing users to sign on through various social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google and get real-time social feeds. The latest upgrade also means HD quality streaming and downloading options for music and movies along with easy access to music through the innovative cloud technology. The site is currently running in its beta version.

     

    The revamped website will be loaded with the following features:

    Streaming: Hungama.com is the only entertainment storefront that allows the consumer to not only buy and download content, but also stream entertainment content for free.

     

    Music Cloud: India’s first Music Cloud will be based on a freemium model. The service allows consumers to save files on the Cloud, which they can seamlessly access via their connected devices- PCs, Mobile Smart Phones, Laptops, Tablets and connected TVs.

     

    Playlists: The new website will offer users different editorial playlists and artiste radio. Users will be able to create their own playlists, save it and share their playlists on social media platforms.

     

    Social Media Integration: Social Media integration will be on following fronts – Use your Social Login to browse and buy content from hungama.com. Consumers can also share their favourite content – Songs, Albums, Videos, Wallpapers with their peer group over social networks and follow members activity to check out what their friends are up to.

     

    Music Discovery: This exciting new feature allows users to discover new music based on user preferences – Mood, Tempo, Category, Genre, Era- a great way to explore the unheard!

     

    Personalization: Favoritization of songs and saving one’s preferences is now possible. New improved ‘My Accounts’ section to display user account details, content downloaded, plans availed, credits remaining, movies watched etc. all in one section.

     

    The revamped website is accessible via Web, mobile apps and through social media options. In addition to the digital platforms, the content of Hungama.com can also now be accessed through its retail touch points, ‘Hungama Oxigen’ retail points, across the country.

     

  • MeridianCommunications Mumbai office has just won the new business mandate for hungama.com and bollywoodhungama.com and the apps business

    Hungama, Bollywoodhungama mandate Meridian

    By A Correspondent

     

    Meridian Communications’ Mumbai office has just won the new business mandate for hungama.com and bollywoodhungama.com and the apps business.

     

    Speaking on this new business win, a very excited Samrat Bedi, Head of Office, Meridian said: “The Hungama win, on the back of the Vespa win, is once again a testimony to Meridian’s strength in blending strategic thought with effective and inspiring creative work. The relevant use of new-age media and ideas that won hands down on high cut-through and freshness is where Meridian scored. In Hungama, we have a brave client who inspired us to push ourselves harder. Eventually, it was the chemistry and passion on both sides that brought us together.”

     

    This was a multi agency pitch. The agencies that were in the running for this business were Metal Communication, Network Advertising, Interface and Brand Insights.

     

    Shashank Lanjekar, Vice President-Account Planning, Meridian said: “Hungama.com is a brand that is young, fun and futuristic. We hope to partner them in creating work that mirrors these values.”

     

    Mohit Ahuja, VP Client Servicing: “At Meridian, we believe in creating long term buzz platforms, as opposed to mere taglines. Given the digital youth space that Hungama operates in, this approach is a perfect fit.”