MxMIndia

Tag: TVF

  • Zee5 will exclusively stream new TVF originals and subsequent seasons of iconic shows like Pitchers, Tripling, Humorously Yours, amongst others

    Zee5 partners TVF

    By Our Staff

     

    OTT platform Zee5 has inked a content partnership with leading content creator TVF (The Viral Fever). The partnership includes the launch of originals and subsequently, new seasons of iconic TVF shows on its SVOD platform, along with popular cult favourites that will be accessible to all, on its AVOD platform.

     

    With this, Zee5 will have shows such as Pitchers Season 2, Tripling Season 3, Humorously Yours Season 3, and other titles like Engineering Girls Season 2 and The Aam Aadmi Family Season 4. In addition to the existing seasons of the said shows above, older titles like Permanent Roommates, Tech Conversations with Dad, Awkward Conversations, PA-Gals, Inmates, Weekends, The Insiders, Zeroes will also be accessible on Zee5.

     

    Said Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, Zee5 India: “Our focus for this year is ‘Entertainment Inclusion’, to ensure everybody, irrespective of the demographic and language preference, has access to purposeful entertainment on Zee5. The first step to this has been to further bolster our content offering followed by ensuring we are able to take that content to the right user. Our association with TVF is in that direction. Over 60% of our audience comes from Hindi-speaking markets and TVF caters perfectly to that group. Being a customer-obsessed platform, we are delighted to bring these much-loved and iconic TVF shows to our platform to further enhance our extensive library of purposeful, multilingual, and diverse titles. Going forward, we will continue to satiate viewer’s appetite for entertainment by offering them a robust slate of differentiated stories in the language of their choice and at their fingertips, reinforcing our positing as the Multilingual Storyteller for millions of entertainment seekers.”

     

    Commenting on this, Punit Misra, President, Content & International Markets, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, said, “Consumer obsession is the cornerstone of our content design thinking on Zee5. Our partnership with TVF is driven by that same obsession, as we seek the love and advocacy of both the OTT native youth audience as well as family audiences. Bringing in a mix of iconic shows and characters on one hand, and heart-warming new shows on the other, we hope to truly delight our viewers. We see a convergence of thinking about content design when working with TVF, driven as it is with our belief of the power of the cycle of observation to insight to finally, the creation of great characters and stories that touch our hearts and truly inspire. Our true reward is to have our viewers move from just being consumers of our high-quality content, to becoming cheerleaders and champions for the Zee5 platform.”

     

    Added Arunabh Kumar, Founder, TVF:  “It gives us immense pleasure to join hands with the team at Zee led by Mr Punit Misra. We are always trying to push the boundaries with our characters and stories, and we are confident that with the power of the Zee5 platform, our teams and stories will win the hearts of millions of new viewers across the country and the world over. With this collaboration, we are looking forward to creating real magic, not just bringing the best of TVF on the platform but also creating memorable new seasons and shows that our viewers and fans can thoroughly enjoy.”

     

    And this is what Nimisha Pandey, Head Hindi Originals, Zee5 India, said in a statement: “We are excited to team up with TVF, the creators who put streaming content on the map in this country. Their stories inspire an instant connect as their slice-of-life shows closely mirror the viewers’ lives, with charming ensemble of characters having relatable quirks brought alive by some very talented actors. The iconic TVF shows finding a home on Zee5 is just the beginning, and together we will be bringing our viewers shows that will surely win their hearts and put a smile on their faces. With new seasons of all-time favourites such as ‘Pitchers S2’, ‘Tripling S3’, ‘Humorously Yours S3’, ‘Aam Aadmi Family S4’, and ‘Engineering Girls S2’ along with some new shows for viewers to look forward to through the year!”

     

  • Shailesh Kapoor lists the Top 5 OTT brands both from a content and a marketing perspective

    The Most Successful OTT Brands of the Decade

     

    This is the third in a series of six decade-ender lists in this column by Shailesh Kapoor. The previous lists:

    The most-defining Hindi TV shows of the decade

    The most-defining Hindi films of the decade

     

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    The OTT category in India saw a major boost in the latter half of the decade, especially 2017 onwards. From a handful of originals and OTT platforms that you could count in single digits, the category took off with the arrival of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in India. In 2019, more than 100 original OTT shows launched in Hindi language alone. Add regional content, sports, movies, animation etc. to it, and you know that the end of the decade belonged to OTT.

    Ranking “successful” brands in an emerging category can be tricky. This list is based on impact created in the Indian market, both from a content and a marketing perspective. Social media brands have not been considered, and special mentions are due to regional players like Hoichoi, and niche players like FilmCompanion and Ullu, for managing to find a strong need gap and catering to it.

     

    5. ALT Balaji

    Balaji’s entry into OTT category in 2017 made it one of the earlier entrants. It took ALT Balaji some time to get going, and it can be argued that the launch of the more premium services like Netflix actually helped ALT Balaji position itself as “mass” and more mainstream, especially for the non-metro markets in India. The platform has relied on quantity, launching shows every other week, and Gandii Baat, which explores the erotic genre from the small-town/ rural lens, is arguably its most successful show till date. When compared to other platforms that didn’t make it to this Top 5 list, like Zee5, Voot and Sony LIV, ALT Balaji’s run is impressive, particularly because it did not have much GEC catch-up content to provide an early cushion.

     

    4. Netflix

    It’s difficult to split Amazon Prime Video and Netflix on rank. Netflix is clearly the more niche of the two, operating as a standalone content service at a much higher price-point than Amazon. When Netflix launched, its price-point was seen as prohibitive by many. It took some time for Netflix to customise, and the launch of the Rs 199 mobile-only service in 2019 was a sign that they are willing to adapt to the unique rules that the Indian market can demand from global players. Netflix’s content strategy has been to focus on less but high-quality content, though some of their 2019 India shows, such as Sacred Games 2 and Bard Of Blood, fall short of that high standard. The platform’s imagery, however, remains strongly associated with high-quality international content, and that’s a sub-genre in which it’s a clear leader.

     

    3. Amazon Prime Video

    Amazon Prime Video’s launch in India was in line with its global strategy to create content to fuel the retail business through content engagement. Compared to its competitor Netflix, Amazon’s OTT strategy in India relies on higher number of big-ticket launches and more aggressive film acquisitions. Through Mirzapur last year and The Family Man this year, the platform has managed to create top-end Indian content, which puts it in a very credible space as we enter a new decade.

     

    2. TVF

    TVF (The Viral Fever) is the only content creator in this list of OTT platforms. Being the early innovators (remember Permanent Roommates and Pitchers), TVF had its OTT moments much before the big players came. Some argued that TVF would fizzle out as big budgets come into play, but the platform continues to be amazingly consistent with its quality, and this year’s Kota Factory is the latest testimony to that. Having addressed a definitive segment of the urban Indian youth, especially men, TVF is in a rock-solid position to be the most-sought-after content creator in the new decade.

     

    1. Hotstar

    Hotstar came before everyone else, in early 2015. And with each passing year, the Star-owned platform has managed to stay ahead of the OTT evolution curve, especially in the area of marketing. Taking IPL digital rights, even before Star had the broadcasting rights, was a clear indication that Star meant business with Hotstar, and this year has seen a lot more action to support that line of thought, with the launch of the VIP service and Hotstar Originals. In the new decade, Hotstar will have to do a bit more to more away from its image of being primarily a catch-up TV and digital sports platform. But that work has already started, it seems.

     

     

  • We are a big country and niches are available, contrary to what our mass television may sometimes make us believe, writes Shailesh Kapoor

    Shailesh Kapoor: Online Fiction Content: The Promise, The Challenges

    By Shailesh Kapoor

     

    There’s been incessant talk over the last few years about non-linear and on-demand television replacing linear television viewing. By now, there’s enough evidence from across the world to suggest that linear television is not going to become irrelevant anytime soon, at least note for the next decade, even two. It still accounts for more than 85 percent of television content viewing in the developed markets. In India, it’s the only way to watch television for more than 99 percent viewers.

     

    However, percentages may not always tell their story. In 2013, Netflix premiered House Of Cards as its first original series. The conventional, linear television broadcast industry had to sit up and take notice. The Netflix Originals model is scaleable, and has since proven to find its diehard fans.

     

    In India, we got the first real taste of an equivalent, at a much smaller scale though, when The Viral Fever (TVF) launched their fiction series Permanent Roommates late 2014. The five episodes, available on YouTube and TVF’s own platform, clocked more than a million views each. Of course, that the content is free fuelled this reach. But the numbers are remarkable nonetheless.

     

    Encouraged by the success of Permanent Roommates, TVF launched Pitchers earlier this season, a quirky take on the corporate world and start-ups. Both the shows offer content that’s conspicuously absent on mainstream, linear television, which caters to the lowest common denominator of audiences. The characters you see in these two shows demand your attention. It’s not content for everyone’s palate, but it doesn’t aspire to be that either, which is why it can work in a world of its own. We are a big country and niches are available, contrary to what our mass television may sometimes make us believe.

     

    But it’s not been a smooth ride for TVF Originals either. The third episode of Pitchers has been delayed “due to production hassles out of our hands.” I’m not too sure what to make of the “out of our hands” part in this update on the TVF website. The moment you play the game of providing original content, you need to live upto a schedule. One episode a fortnight is not a good idea as it is, but one episode a month is a mini-disaster.

     

    The TVF Originals journey should help other aspirants of original online content learn a thing or two. On the positive side, you can make engaging and finite fiction series in reasonable budgets and not look tacky.

     

    But on the side of caution, you need to be consumer-oriented, like any other good offline business. There’s no harm in aspiring to break the rules of mainstream television production in India – endless episodes being shot the evening before telecast, and at times being uplinked almost in real time for broadcast. Those are problems of linear television. You have an FPC and you have to deliver to it all the time. But the absence of one in non-linear television does not absolve you of your commitment to viewers and their viewing habits.

     

    We want to see more content from TVF. We also want to see other content providers like TVF entering this space. Stand-up comedy, sketch comedy and spoofs are hugely popular, but real growth in any medium comes from fiction content, where storytelling is the hero.

     

    The online medium in India needs more stories of it own. But before that happens, there’s the small issue of the missing Pitchers Episode 3 to be taken care of.