VOOT harnesses Viacom18's multiple brands and businesses, goes local to travel global
30 AUGUST, 2018
At a star studded event in Mumbai today, India’s second most viewed premium advertising led video-on-demand platform VOOT by Viacom18, showcased the first bundle of its upcoming VOOT Originals – 18 multi-lingual premium web series cutting across genres. In its bid to utilize the strength of storytelling that runs across Viacom18’s various businesses, VOOT has created and collaborated with various brands of the network to create bespoke content. Leveraging its prowess of creating critically and commercially successful films, Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the network’s movie studio, will now be producing web-series for VOOT, under the banner of Tipping Point Films. Furthermore, diving deeper into the regional markets of India, the Regional Broadcast Entertainment cluster of Viacom18 will be producing multi-lingual VOOT Originals specifically for the discerning digital audience. VOOT will also be adding news to its increasingly varied content offering, starting with a partnership with India’s foremost news media organization Network18. VOOT is ramping up its content and product play as it sets sight to take the platform international, beginning with the United Kingdom, in November 2018.
“VOOT is integral to our strategy as we gear up for a future-ready Viacom18 that is screen, platform and pipe agnostic. We are building a digital-first brand to harness Viacom18’s strengths across its brands, creative franchises and businesses in multiple Indian languages.” Explained Sudhanshu Vats, Managing Director, Viacom18, adding, “Furthermore, the inherent synergies with Reliance Jio, both as a platform for showcasing content and as a carrier of our service, have only dialled up the business roadmap for VOOT.”
Partnering with the best in class creators, producers and talent, the 18 VOOT Originals will provide an immersive content experience with storytelling across multiple genres like Psychology, Mystery, Sports Biopic, Comedy, Drama, Thriller, Politics, History, Crime and Suspense amongst others. The diversity of the VOOT Originals slate will be brought to life through driving synergies within the network.
“The digital medium brings us close to the consumer at a very personal level. Owing to the last mile measureablity that the medium provides, our entire content strategy is based on a deep data backed analysis of the needs and desires of our consumers and their consumption preferences and patterns. Thus our play across a diverse bouquet of genres and languages,” Monika Shergill, Head – Content, Viacom18 Digital Ventures, explained, adding, “At an execution level, we have been extremely lucky to be partnering with a galaxy of very talented and committed actors, writers and directors to bring forth our second bundle of VOOT Originals, starting with 18 multi-genre and multi-lingual series.”
VOOT will continue its journey towards next echelons of growth through its foray into new growth areas, as defined below:
News on VOOT: Expanding its genre spread, VOOT will now see the addition of news on its platform with the inclusion of TV18 news. 16 live channels across 13 languages will now bring the latest in current affairs to its viewers, adding to the range and reach of the platform.
Teching it Up: VOOT will also strengthen its engagement and user interactivity experience with superior technology adoption and innovation. Adding to the user search experience and facilitating easy discoverability will be the adoption of Google Watch Action, an industry first in APAC for premium OTT players. VOOT’s future ready platform will also enhance the content experience with the introduction of Dolby Surround Sound for all VOOT Originals, a first amongst Indian OTT Players.
Global Foray: VOOT has continuously ensured superior technology adoption and content diversity thereby paving the way for the platforms Global foray. Catering to the vast Indian diaspora and the international community that seeks immersive Indian stories, VOOT is all set to debut Internationally starting November 2018 with its entry into the United Kingdom. With an Indian origin population of around 1.825 Mn, the UK market presents a significant reach opportunity for VOOT to leverage.
The affordability of smartphones and data has resulted in an increase in consumption of content on smartphones, multi-fold. With the advent of mobile phones doubling up as screens for content viewing, India’s single screen homes have been morphed into multi-screen, opening up previously unexplored content themes and viewing patterns. VOOT, with its distinguished genre of content across languages, is perfectly poised to utilise this growth phase in the Indian media and entertainment ecosystem.
ABOUT VOOT
VOOT is a digital video-on-demand streaming service from the house of Viacom18. With a content library of more than 50,000 hours across Viacom18’s network content, content around content, VOOT Kids and VOOT Originals, the platform caters to varying needs of discerning audiences across segments. Operating currently as an ad-supported service in India, VOOT has amassed over over 35million+ monthly active users. VOOT was awarded the coveted ‘Best app of 2017’ title by Apple’s App Store and VOOT’s Progressive Web App (PWA) product has won the IBC global innovation awards in 2017. VOOT continues to take the leadership mantel on innovation, across content, technology and marketing initiatives, aimed at providing an immersive experience to its users.
ABOUT VIACOM18:
Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. is one of India's fastest growing entertainment networks and a house of iconic brands that offers multi-platform, multi-generational and multicultural brand experiences. A joint venture of TV18, which owns 51%, and Viacom Inc., with a 49% stake, Viacom18 defines entertainment in India by touching the lives of people through its properties on air, online, on ground, in shop and through cinema.
Also, from Advanced Television:
Voot entering UK market
Viacom18 is planning to launch its ad-supported VoD platform Voot in the UK this November – with a further international expansion to follow. It will also be launching 18 multi-lingual premium web series across genres and adding news to its content offering.
Voot, currently only available in India, offers content from Colors TV, MTV India, Nickelodeon India and other Viacom 18 owned television channels. It also hosts many Bollywood movies and has produced several ‘Voot Original’ shows.
“Voot is all set to debut internationally starting November 2018 with its entry into the United Kingdom. With an Indian origin population of around 1.825 million, the UK market presents a significant reach opportunity for Voot to leverage,” the company confirmed in a statement.
Voot will also be adding news to its content offering, with a partnership with Network18’s news media organisation, with 16 live channels across 13 languages, it added.
“Voot is integral to our strategy as we gear up for a future-ready Viacom18 that is screen, platform and pipe agnostic. We are building a digital-first brand to harness Viacom18’s strengths across its brands, creative franchises and businesses in multiple Indian languages,” commented Sudhanshu Vats, managing director, Viacom18.
Viacom18 Media is a joint venture between Mukesh Ambani-owned TV18, which owns 51 per cent, and US-based Viacom, which has a 49 per cent stake.
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Also, via Exchange4media:
VOOT Launches 18 Web Series, To Enter UK Market In November
Viacom 18’s advertising led video-on-demand platform VOOT has announced its upcoming VOOT Originals-18 multilingual web series across genres and also announced its expansion beyond India, beginning with the United Kingdom, in November 2018.
Apart from launching 18 new web series and the global foray, the streaming platform has now added news genre as well to its offerings. VOOT will also strengthen its engagement and user interactivity experience with superior technology adoption and innovation. “VOOT is integral to our strategy as we gear up for a future-ready Viacom18 that is screen, platform and pipe agnostic. We are building a digital-first brand to harness Viacom18’s strengths across its brands, creative franchises and businesses in multiple Indian languages,” explained Sudhanshu Vats, Managing Director, Viacom18.
“Furthermore, the inherent synergies with Reliance Jio, both as a platform for showcasing content and as a carrier of our service, have only dialled up the business roadmap for VOOT,” he added.
Speaking about the OTT landscape and opportunity in India, Vats believes that the OTT space has evolved drastically in last two years and the revolution brought by Reliance Jio. “In this space, penetration is increasing and data consumption is going up as data is becoming more and more affordable and so are smartphones. The audience who is currently watching video online in India is already close to 300-350 million but the most heartening news is that this number is going to be about 750 million by 2020. That's the size of China today in terms of digital consumption. As we are already second largest country, we can be number one as we go forward.”
The Content Line up
The 18 VOOT Originals will provide an immersive content experience with storytelling across multiple genres like Psychology, Mystery, Sports Biopic, Comedy, Drama, Thriller, Politics, History, Crime and Suspense amongst others. Feet Up with the Stars, It's Not That Simple, Law and Honour, Asura, QWard, The Sawaikar Case and Barefoot 11 are among the few.
In its bid to utilise the strength of storytelling that runs across Viacom 18's various businesses, VOOT has created and collaborated with various brands of the network to create content. Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the network’s movie studio, will now be producing web-series for VOOT, under the banner of Tipping Point Films.
“The digital medium brings us close to the consumer at a very personal level. Owing to the last mile measurability that the medium provides, our entire content strategy is based on a deep data backed analysis of the needs and desires of our consumers and their consumption preferences and patterns. Thus our play across a diverse bouquet of genres and languages,” said Monika Shergill, Head – Content, Viacom18 Digital Ventures.
She added, “At an execution level, we have been extremely lucky to be partnering with a galaxy of very talented and committed actors, writers and directors to bring forth our second bundle of VOOT Originals, starting with 18 multi-genre and multi-lingual series.”
Some of the content will come ahead of the paywall and some will be behind the paywall. The date of original series are not out yet except the show Feet Up with the Stars but Vats mentioned that the series will be released within 6-9 months time.
Regional Content
The Regional Broadcast Entertainment cluster of Viacom18 will be producing multi-lingual VOOT Originals specifically for the discerning digital audience. The network has also launched three regional shows, three in Tamil and one in Kannada. The shows like Dagalti, Sirrai, I See You and Don’t Think are in the pipeline.
News on VOOT
Expanding its genre spread, VOOT will now see the addition of news on its platform with the inclusion of TV18 news. 16 live channels across 13 languages will now bring the latest in current affairs to its viewers, adding to the range and reach of the platform.
Global Foray
Catering to the vast Indian diaspora and the international community that seeks immersive Indian stories, VOOT is all set to debut internationally starting November 2018 with its entry into the United Kingdom. Vats explained, “We wanted to get into a diaspora market which has good representation of India. It is also a market where basically we can test out appeal of Indian content with youth outside our own diaspora. With an Indian origin population of around 1.825mn, the UK market presents a significant reach opportunity for VOOT to leverage. UK is the market where we have maximum number of channels including Colors, Rishtey, Colors HD, MTV Beats and our movie channel as well.”
The platform is entering the market in partnership with one telecom to begin with. Vats added, “In the initial stages, it's important to have right partners. If you look at the model, particularly at behind paywall model, there are two key components which you have to be very careful about. One is the acquisition cost and other is marketing. In marketing also, first the awareness of the platform and later marketing of shows. The juncture at our journey, going with a telecom partner be a good thing to do. But we will follow up with the availability of our product on app stores (Google and iOS), that will be subsequent.”
Tech advancement
VOOT will also strengthen its engagement and user interactivity experience with superior technology adoption and innovation. Adding to the user search experience and facilitating easy discoverability will be the adoption of Google Watch Action, an industry first in APAC for premium OTT players. VOOT’s future-ready platform will also enhance the content experience with the introduction of Dolby Surround Sound for all VOOT Originals, a first amongst Indian OTT Players.
What’s next on VOOT?
Vats informed, “As we go forward we will build a portfolio play, we are going to look at Voot International, Voot Freemium which we are working on, we will also look at dedicated Voot Kids service soon.”
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More Nick: Nick Jr. India to Premiere 'Wissper' During Fall 2018; Viacom18 Consumer Products to Develop 'Wissper' Licensing Program!
Additional sources: IndiaTimeline, The Indian Express, Deccan Chronicle.
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