B2B Video Tech Startup Mogi IO Launches OTT Cloud Platform for Bharat

OTT Cloud Benefits -Enable millions of content creators & owners to launch their own video / OTT app & monetize their content

Mogi IO (www.mogiio.com), a B2B Video tech venture haslauncheda global first - OTT Cloud solution for Bharat. This platform would enable millions of content creators & owners esp in Bharat (Tier 3 & 4 towns) to launch their own mobile app & web platform to stream their video content & start monetizing their content via Subscription (SVOD), Pay per View (TVOD) & Advertising (AVOD)

Speaking about the launch, Mogi’s Founder & CEO Vikrant Khanna said, “India has an abundance of talent that runs deep into our villages & small towns, while creators & content owners can showcase their content on Youtube& other video apps their monetization is marginal & content ownership for the IP gets compromised on these platforms. With Mogi’s totally managed, plug & play, no code OTT cloud solution they can now launch their own branded apps & web apps in days & start making money. The best part is there is no upfront cost, they pay only if they get viewers & start making subscription money through the payment gateway integration in the OTT or if they opt for advertising based revenue. So Mogi’s OTT cloud is zero risk while empowering the youth of Bharat thereby bringing alive the AtmaNirbhar Bharat Story. Built by Indians, For Indians and Used by Indians.”

Mogi OTT cloud platform, has been designed keeping the ever-evolving needs of the OTT industry combined with extremely streamlined and simple video delivery workflow along with flexibility and scalability of a cloud platform. Additionally, Mogi’s OTT Cloud is powered by its patented Streaming Engine which leverages a multi CDN architecture to deliver buffer free videos even in tier 3 & 4 towns where network connectivity maybe fluctuating, while Mogi’s AI based compression ensures 50% better reduction in video size compared to even global solutions. This would a result in a user experience which is truly world class.

Mogi OTT Cloud Platform would enable -

• Buffer free video streaming, even in Tier III& IVtowns
• Up to 50% Superior Compression than other solutions, while enhancing video resolution
• Up to 4 K streaming quality
• More 50% better cost efficiency
• Robustness, reliability & scalability of a world class platform

Mogi is already working with marquee clients such as DishTV, Stage, FlowersTV, Momspresso, BritAsia TV (UK) & WTF Sports (Thailand) among many others

About Mogi

Established in 2019, Mogi is a B2B Video Tech SaaS start-up that leverages Artificial intelligence (AI) in building cutting-edge IPs to disrupt the Video streaming space. Mogi enables content platforms to stream buffer-free videos, of high quality, at 50% of their size leveraging its patented AI technology. This buffer-free video results in superior viewer engagement while reducing streaming costs to half for the video platform.

Mogi recently raised an undisclosed amount from Pentathlon Ventures and aimed to raise another round by the end of this year. This year, the Startup plans to launch retail products for video & image tech solutions across product segments along with their white label OTT. Additionally, to scale the company to the next level, the Mogi team would be expanded and aims to hire people at different levels such as tech development, product and sales.

Mogi is started by Vikrant Khanna and Rahul Lahoria. Vikrant is Ex COO of Homeshop18 & Ex VP Digital at Airtel. Rahul Lahoria is M Tech in Comp Sc (IIT Kharagpur) and has filed for six patents.

AiStream and Delinet Announce Partnership to Address the Needs of Unconnected People in Underserved Broadband Markets

AiStream UK and Delinet India are pleased to announce that they have entered into a strategic partnership, bringing together their complementary capabilities to support unconnected and under-served digital markets.

The AiStream content experience and payments hub plug-and-play hotspot is bundled with Delinet's IP-TV to deliver a value added service based on wi-fi enabled appliances at the last mile.

The premise of the partnership is to enable deployment of education, health and other citizen centric services-at-scale for service providers without the requirement of a fixed or mobile network infrastructure.

The credible platform comes with the key benefits of pre-integrated marketplace, play store, billing, DRM protection and supports multiple new-age business models in a stand-alone or connected environment. To expand into underserved markets, Delinet and AiStream are planning to initially deploy its edge appliances at 100 challenging locations in the coming quarter, with a major roll out planned over the next 12 months and beyond.

The company is working to reach 300 million users in India and other developing countries by 2025." COO and Co-founder of AiStream Peter Abbott said."This partnership has been made to exploit strong synergies of the technology platform developed by AiStream with the current business of Delinet and the Surbhi Group. We jointly see a potential to significantly augment the digital content consumption in unconnected markets" Udit Aggarwal, Director of Delinet commented.

Director of Delinet also commented "Deploying AiStream technology within our Group of companies will give us a disruptive capability to open up new digital markets. Our strategic ambition as a Group is to constantly extend our reach and bring opportunities for content partners and advertisers alike to reach previously unconnected eyeballs, audiences and communities in an affordable way."

About AiStream:

AiStream brings an on-demand solution for education, entertainment and public services in markets and communities around the world who have little or no access to the internet. Over 3.6 billion people live without access to digital services and the AiStream solution removes the barriers normally associated with bringing access to the unconnected. The AiStream software platform creates both social impact for communities and market opportunities for content owners and service providers by delivering content via ‘On Grid/ Off Grid’ hubs at the very edge of the network. The edge wi-fi hub enables users to access and download content free of data charges. One experience-connected or unconnected.

All of the services available at the edge are available in the cloud providing a consistent user experience. As 4G/5G networks roll out and bandwidth becomes available and affordable then AiStream communities will seamlessly integrate into the 5G edge ecosystem. Learn more at www.aistream.tv and follow us on LinkedIn. For all direct enquiries please contact ckapoor@aistream.tv

About Delinet:

Delinet Broadband Pvt Ltd is a company promoted by industry veterans who come with a vast background of working in the field of Cable TV, DTH, Satellite TV Channels, IPTV, Mobile TV and Triple Play and now delivering next generation enhanced services in the same domain.

discovery+ ’s New Original, "India’s Space Odyssey", A Riveting Watch on ISRO’s Inspirational Journey !

Premiering on October 7th, the documentary narrated in Hindi by supremely talented Bollywood actor R. Madhavan captures India’s remarkable 60 years journey in Space Exploration

discovery+, country’s first and leading aggregated infotainment streaming platform famously known for engrossing cosmology content among other fun and facts-based content from more than 55 sub-genres is back this space week with an all-new original titled India’s Space Odyssey. This engrossing documentary premiering on 7th October 2021 only on discovery+ celebrates the 60 year long successful journey of India’s space programme. 

Narrated in Hindi by the versatile Indian cinema actor and space enthusiast R. Madhavan, the documentary captures the landmark endeavours achieved during India’s Space Programme which helps understand the tough circumstances under which ISRO succeeded, a victory considered impossible by some around the world. The journey was commenced by Dr. Homi J. Bhabha and Dr. Vikram Sarabhai on India’s quest to become a leader in space exploration and pioneering space technology.

Produced by Miditech Studios, ‘India’s Space Odyssey’ features different experts from ISRO as well as space historians & researchers and most notably, the former Chairman of ISRO, Dr. G. Madhavan Nair. Experts speak about their challenging yet wholesome journey working in the India’s Space Programme. 

The film documents how India decided to go to space with the visionary Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, the founding father of the Indian Space Programme at the helm. The documentary highlights the foundation setup by Homi J. Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai who guided ISRO in upholding its mission of bringing the benefits of space to the service of the nation, making it one of the most decorated and largest space agencies in the world. Successors of the same vision were the Former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, Prof. Satish Dhawan and Dr. G Madhavan Nair, some of the scientists responsible for successfully steering India into an era of rapid space exploration and technology development, taking off with the SLV3, India’s first individual rocket launch Vehicle.

Using a combination of expert interviews, archive footage and graphic representations this special documentary captures the journey so far and further highlights India’s most revolutionizing space developments with the highly complex Chandraayan and Mangalyaan missions. With historical advances in India’s rocket technology, ISRO then proceeded to develop different technologies from the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) which recorded a remarkable success rate of 95% and is the workhorse of ISRO’s satellite launch programme; to the most ambitious and historical Gaganyaan Programme, which will be India’s first manned mission to space. The documentary takes the audience through the ambitious, struggle and daring Indian Space Programme which with each mission expands India’s presence in space and humanity’s knowledge of the universe.

“The Indian Space programme since its inception has achieved significant feats, thanks to the contributions of all the people who have worked alongside the programme. We are delighted that a platform like Discovery has been taking these initiatives to the people in an attempt to encourage and inspire them.” said Dr. K. Sivan, Chairman ISRO, Secretary DOS.

R. Madhavan on narrating ‘India’s Space Odyssey’ said “Curiosity has brought humans to where we are today, and it will continue to do so. I thank Discovery India for this wonderful learning opportunity, and I feel honored to have lent my voice to a project that could inspire future generations to embark on their quest to explore space”.

At Discovery, we focus on exploring content that will give the audience an enriching and inspiring experience. Discovery is invested in being a worldwide leader of original edutainment with an immersive range of space-related documentaries and is now bringing to you a detailed and truly inspirational documentary on the much-appreciated Indian Space Programme. We believe ‘India’s Space Odyssey’ will delight Discovery fans and draw in all the space enthusiasts from across the country who are looking to satisfy their curiosity.” said Sai Abhishek, Original Content Head- South Asia, Discovery Inc.

About discovery +

‘discovery+’ is an exciting new D2C streaming app, launched to satiate the unmet need of a differentiated product offering premium real-life entertainment. Priced competitively with an introductory offer of INR 299 per annum, the app has been developed and curated specifically for India. discovery+ offers thousands of hours of exclusive content across 55+ genres, including Science, Adventure, Food and Lifestyle, in 7 languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Bengali. The premium subscribers have access to a vast selection of never-seen-before Premium Discovery titles, must-watch documentaries, India originals and exclusive acquisitions. Free users of the app have access to all-time favorites from the Discovery library.

Toch.ai Founders Launch Streamm.io That Allows Posting Live and Pre-recorded Videos on Multiple Social Media Platform

Serial entrepreneurs Vinayak Shrivastav and Saket Dandotia, also the co-Founders of Toch.ai, an AI-driven video-tech platform, today announced the launch of Streamm.io that will allow vloggers and influencers to stream live videos on multiple platforms through a single app. Users can increase their reach, engagement, and monetize their audiences with just a click of a button. The platform will also enable creators to track the engagement on their posts across platforms through a single dashboard.

With advanced features like key moment generation, ad insertion, shoppable video, and closed live sessions, streamm.io aims to empower content creators like social media influencers, musicians, gamers, fitness gurus, vbloggers, etc, to reach a much larger audience with relatable content. Other than simultaneous live multistreaming, the platform also helps in streaming recorded content from anywhere anytime. The unique multi-chat feature helps creators engage with their fans on a real-time basis.

Commenting on the launch, Vinayak Shrivastav, Co-Founder, Streamm.io said -

We have seen a radical shift in the way content is consumed now as opposed to what it used to be. Maybe it’s the pandemic effect, but live broadcasting as an industry has emerged as a driver for increasing social media engagement, whether it’s for an individual content creator or a business. Through streamm.io, we wish to aid this growth and provide adequate support and tools for creators to connect and engage with a larger audience in a much faster way. Backed by state-of-the-art technology, the platform will revolutionize live video streaming as an industry.

Streamm.io used WebSocket server technology which allows a persistent connection between various social media platforms and the user. It helps in keeping the connection alive for users to get real-time alerts on engagement without having to refresh multiple times.

About Streamm.io

Streamm.io is a multistreaming platform that enables content creators to engage with their audience on multiple platforms simultaneously. AI driven platform launched by serial entrepreneurs, Vinayak Shrivastav and Saket Dandotia, aims to fill a gap in the market where influencers can directly manage their content through a single dashboard. The objective is to help creator leverage the Streamm’s propriety technology to manage content, engagement and monetization using video NFTs, which is to be released soon. Streamm.io uses Websocket server technology for a glitch free and continuous connection between the server and the user. The platform aims to become the one-stop shop solution for influencer management.

Lionsgate Play Partners with OnePlus to Bring Curated Global Content To OnePlus TVs

OnePlus users can access this premium content across OnePlus TVs portfolio including the newly launched OnePlus TV U1S

15 July 2021, India: Fastest growing streaming platform, Lionsgate Play announced a distribution partnership with OnePlus, leading global technology company today. The new-found collaboration will offer access to the extensive, global content library of Lionsgate Play for OnePlus TV users. It is also set to strengthen Lionsgate Play’s user base by enabling an incredible content viewing experience on OnePlus TV’s large, premium screens.

With the diverse content catalogue from Lionsgate Play now available on all OnePlus TVs, including the newly launched OnePlus TV U1S, users will be able to enjoy an enhanced viewing experience with rich content. Lionsgate Play will be easily accessible on OxygenPlay, the content discovery platform of OnePlus TV, thus allowing users to easily access an assortment of content from various content partners. Lionsgate Play is known for its bespoke content including academy award winning movies, box office hits and local titles. In addition to this global content, OnePlus users can also access extensive content available in six different languages - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada and Bhojpuri.

Addressing the partnership Mr. Amit Dhanuka - Executive Vice President at Lionsgate says “To penetrate deeper integration of our offerings, we saw this as a great opportunity to associate with OnePlus. We are big believers of the large screen format as it is the best place to watch premium content and adds richness to the experience. This partnership will strengthen our audience base and provide a great viewing experience. We have seen a tremendous response to the service launch in India as people are loving the content and the experience. Few titles that are breaking all consumption records on our platform are Hunter Killer, Angel Has Fallen, Normal People, The Girlfriend Experience, John Wick 3, Love Island among others. We are also seeing deeper penetration by means of dubbed languages and have takers in Tier 2 cities plus as well. It only makes sense to make the service available at as many touchpoints as possible to ensure people are able to access us from their favorite devices.”

Marking the partnership, Mr. Navnit Nakra, Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of India Sales at OnePlus India shared, “With the OnePlus smart TV portfolio, our focus is to provide an unparalleled and immersive smart TV experience to our community. The partnership with Lionsgate Play will provide our OnePlus TV users access to exclusive content curated from all over the world across genres and languages thus further elevating their content viewing experience.”

About Lionsgate Play

Lionsgate Play, a premium streaming service from Lionsgate India and Starz, offers bespoke Hollywood content for Indian consumers. It boasts of thousands of hours of Premium Hollywood content including Premieres, billion-dollar Franchise Movies and binge worthy Box Sets. Lionsgate Play has a widely distributed network in the region spanning across partnerships like Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, Jio FTTH, Apple TV+, Amazon Firestick, OEM’s with an ambitious roadmap ahead. Lionsgate Play also develops and produces a diverse slate of high budget premium Indian originals.

About OnePlus India:

OnePlus is a global mobile technology company challenging conventional concepts of technology. Created around the ‘Never Settle’ mantra, OnePlus creates exquisitely designed devices with premium build quality and high-performance hardware. OnePlus thrives on cultivating strong bonds and growing together with its community of users and fans. For more information, please visit oneplus.in.

Huawei AppGallery & Hungama Music Join Hands to Provide Exceptional Streaming Experience in the Middle East

Unlimited streaming of over 12mn+ popular songs, music videos and podcasts in 20+ languages on Huawei devices, for Huawei AppGallery users in the region

New Delhi, 7th July 2021: Huawei AppGallery, the third largest app marketplace globally today announced that its year-long collaboration with Hungama Music, one of the leading music streaming services in India is now expanding to the Middle-East countries. With an aim to boost their global reach, Huawei has taken an initiative to bridge the gap between Indian apps and global users, starting from the Middle-East.

The association will help Huawei’s Middle-East users to indulge in an enriching streaming experience with Hungama Music and allowing them to access over 12 million songs, music videos and podcasts in 20+ languages from the biggest Indian and international labels on its platform.

The strengthening of the partnership between Huawei and Hungama Music through the AppGallery’s expansion in the Middle-East region, will offer the users a fluid music experience along with the availability of a large local library. Hungama Music has association with Mazzika Group, a leading Arabic music production & distribution company in the region. The partnership will allow Hungama Music to offer more than 10,000 tracks from popular artists like Ahmed Saad, Hisham Abbas, Abu and Ahmed Gamal.

Hungama Music is the first Indian integration with Huawei to go live in international markets, namely, UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Egypt, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and more. To create a holistic mobile ecosystem without geographical barriers, Huawei AppGallery is working with more Indian applications to support them with global exposure. This initiative will further diversify its existing app portfolio of over 2.3 million registered developers and offer a range of cross-border applications to its users. Previously, to attract app developers as well as to benefit them, Huawei AppGallery rolled out various incentives which included up to 90% of ad revenue to go to the app owners.

Commenting on the association, Mr. Lu Geng, Vice President Middle East and Africa, Huawei Global Partnerships & Eco-Development said -

We are excited to take our partnership with Hungama to the international markets. This association will allow an exceptional experience of audio and video streaming to Huawei’s users outside of India. It is a step forward to further strengthen our efforts to build a diverse app experience for our users. Starting from Middle-east, we are looking forward to taking the tie-up to the world’s market. Huawei has been committed to create an ecosystem where everyone has an opportunity to thrive. We will work with more Indian applications and take them to global markets.

Commenting on the association, Mr. Siddhartha Roy, COO, Hungama Digital Media said -

We are excited to strengthen our partnership with Huawei and expand the availability of our platform on Huawei AppGallery in the Middle East region. As a platform, we have always believed in building a robust distribution network that allows us to reach users across geographies and device ecosystems. We are certain that Huawei device users in the region will appreciate Hungama Music for its large and diverse library of Indian and international songs, music videos and podcasts.

Hungama Music is amongst the most popular music streaming platforms in the country, offering content across formats, languages, genres, and categories. Huawei AppGallery is amongst the top three global app marketplaces. It offers a wide variety of global and local apps across 18 categories, including navigation & transport, news, social media, and others. AppGallery is available in more than 170 countries and regions with over 540 million monthly active users.

Emphasizing utmost importance on privacy and cyber security, AppGallery is a trusted platform where every app goes through four major types of tests to ensure they offer 360-degree security to the user.

Social Music Platform Humit Raises Pre-Seed Funding from Antler India

The startup aims to reinvent music sharing and discovery by leveraging community and social tastemaking.

Humit, a social music app, has raised a pre-seed round of funding led by Antler India. Humit is reimagining the way people discover, share and express themselves with their taste in music. It makes engaging with music a social-first experience by letting users share the most powerful moments from their favourite songs, create micro-communities and engage with fellow music lovers in completely new ways. 

Unlike traditional streaming platforms that use algorithms to serve up recommendations, Humit relies on a community-driven approach where music is discovered and shared on user moderated channels called ‘stations’. The platform is currently home to 500+ stations created by users across 42 countries.

Founded in 2020 by BITS Pilani graduates and music lovers Rohit Ganapathy, Prithvi Sankar and Ishaan Negi, the idea of Humit took shape after the trio realised that existing social platforms used for sharing music were not ideal for audio consumption. Humit provides an audio-focused social media experience for Spotify users, with integrations across Apple Music, YouTube Music and SoundCloud currently in the works.

Rohit Ganapathy, Co-founder and Head of Product, Humit, said --

Music has an intrinsically social aspect to it. In fact, one’s taste in music is often considered brag-worthy. However, no product has yet been able to truly complete the feedback loop for social sharing of music. With Humit, we are decoding the nuances of sharing music recommendations with a friend, and what it means to be able to express yourself through your taste in music. This is a core desire, and what we believe will scale globally. A shared taste in music is known to be one of the best icebreakers and we are working on designing unique experiences around this.

The app for music lovers is getting traction in India, US and other global markets. Prithvi Sankar, Co-founder, Humit, said, “We are working on clever design and tech interventions that can lead to serendipitous ways of discovering some great music. We have several examples of super fans and folks who’ve never met each other before, building cross-border friendships by discovering each other’s music stations. This is truly rewarding to see, and tells us we are onto something special.”

Humit’s pre-seed round was led by Antler, with co-investments from First Cheque led by Farooq Adam (Co-founder, Fynd), and angels such as Alagu Periyannan (CTO, Bluejeans), Sarath Sura (Co-founder, Sierra Atlantic), Ankit Mathuria (CTO at Oyo Rooms), Shivakumar Ganesan (Co-founder, Exotel), Gajendra Jangid (Co-founder, CARS24), Kshitij Khandelwal (Co-founder, Pixxel) among others.

Rajiv Srivatsa, Partner at Antler, added: “Indian techpreneurs are ‘building in India, for the world’, which we believe will be one of the biggest trends to watch. Humit is pushing boundaries, and setting up new social constructs around music that has the potential to change consumer behaviour and create a new category where none existed before.”

Earlier this year, global early-stage VC firm Antler announced a full-fledged launch in India. Antler is one of the fastest growing VC firms in the world and plans to deploy $100M in 100+ Indian startups over the next 3 years.

About Antler:

Antler is a global early-stage venture capital firm that invests in the defining technology companies of tomorrow. The firm has offices globally across most major entrepreneurial hubs, including in London, Berlin, Stockholm, New York, Singapore and Sydney.

Founded in Singapore in 2017, Antler is on a mission to fundamentally improve the world by enabling and investing in the world's most exceptional people, by supporting the teams with deep business model validation and providing a global platform for scaling. To date, Antler has invested in over 300 companies globally across 30 different industries. Of these companies, 40% have at least one female co-founder, and the founders represent 70 nationalities.

Rajiv Srivatsa and Nitin Sharma are Partners at Antler India, and Co-founders for the Antler India Fund.

Chingari Ties Up with Koinage Records A Music Label; Gets License To Use Their Music On Its Platform

India, April 2021: Chingari, Bharat Ka Super Entertainment App & the pioneering indigenous short video app, to make a mark in the world of new age music, has joined hands with Koinage Records, a popular music label from Delhi. Chingari is amongst the most popular entertainment apps in India with a focus on adding value to its users and content creators.

Koinage Records, since its inception, intends to produce multiple genres of music content with a focus on producing music for every genre and age. The Record Label is now all set to dive deep into the world of short video content by making its tracks available to create videos. All the released and upcoming tracks will now be available to Chingari application users to create content over the short video platform.

Koinage Records not only intends to collaborate with known artists from the industry but with independent artists across the country. Since their kickoff in October, they have composed songs with the uncooked, swamped talent to Bollywood singers like Ash King. They have already released 13 tracks and are now set to release many more tracks from different artists in the upcoming months.

Speaking on the occasion, Ramit Bhat, Business Director, Koinage Records said- "We intend to bring forth original content in independent music space by identifying the right talent and provide them an opportunity to showcase their talent at the highest level."

He further added - "With our collaboration with Chingari which is one of the fastest-growing Indian short video platforms, we feel our vision to bring forth multi-genre music content will get the right and wider audience."

Chingari Founder, Sumit Ghosh said, "We are thrilled to partner with Koinage Records as our digital partner, we are privileged to be part of their motive to bring forth new age artists and music for every taste. This collaboration further substantiates Chingari to provide that's in sync with the preference of youth in India. Last week, we happily announced Salman Khan as our official brand ambassador and investor. I hope these high-impact collaborations and campaigns will help us impel more audience.

In the end, he said "Our future outlook is to continue being the most favourable and most preferred platform to connect with brands, artists, production houses, music labels, and online users like never before, and our ethos to reach out to across every state of Bharat"

Talking about the collaboration Deepak Salvi, (Co-founder & COO) Chingari says, "We are happy to announce Koinage as our ally, which intends to produce multi-cultural music records and songs library. This alliance will not only help us to localize content in every language; but, also help us to mutually benefit from each other's perks that come along with this collaboration." In the end, he says, "We see this pact as a renaissance to invite our users and audience to be vocal about their own roots and to bring back multicultural music, Independent music in the mainstream media."

About Chingari:

Chingari is one of the most popular media super entertainment app in India. It is owned by Tech4Billion Media Private Limited. Through this app, users can create and upload videos in more than 12 multiple languages including English and Hindi. Chingari was launched on Google Play Store in November 2018. The app scaled new heights in 2020 and became India's #1 Super Entertainment App and the most popular short video sharing application by August 2020. As on date, Chingari has clocked more than 56 Million users in India and the user base continues to grow by the minute.

Download the free Chingari app on Google Play Store here —

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.chingari.app&hl=en_IN


And get the app for your iPhone here — https://chingari.io/trending

J L Stream launches a 'Made in India' Social LIVE streaming app

MUMBAI, India, March 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With over 680 million active internet users and 450 million social network users, India has one of the lowest-priced data in the world. This second largest online market is fast growing to be one of the largest consumers of content globally. J L Stream is promoted by Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty Kundra, entrepreneur Raj Kundra along with an advisory board of industry visionaries like Raj Nayak - former chief of Viacom, Bunty Bahl - CEO at ITW Playworx Media & Entertainment & Nandan Jha - former COO Ease My Trip. J L stands for Jaldi Live - a social LIVE streaming mobile app that gives users an opportunity to stream their talent, get discovered, chat & earn.

The app has a unique feature called K.I.S.S. that stands for 'Keep It Simple Streamer' & gives an option to the users to share a short video of their talent along with their introduction to help get discovered faster. On J L Stream, users can stream anywhere any time, showcase their talents, give shout-outs to their audience & earn money with instant cash out. The app will be available worldwide barring China. Users will be able to purchase coins in-app and pay streamers via virtual gifts during the live sessions. Streamers can withdraw their earnings instantly via multiple digital payment options.

Delighted about the upcoming launch, the CEO, Raj Kundra says, "In the last 5 years, India has seen a substantial amount of growth in the way we consume data and watch content. Jaldi Live is a major part of the new internet culture giving every person with any talent a platform to become a star. We have crossed 1 Lakh installs already. I am proud to say the app is made in India and will be available worldwide."

For more information or to download the app go to www.JLStream.com.

About J L Stream India Pvt Ltd

J L Stream India Pvt Ltd is founded and promoted by entrepreneur Raj Kundra. J L Stream is a seamless social live streaming app. The Logo J L comes together to form a 'Namaste,' a gesture of gratitude towards others. A proudly Made In India app, for the world.

Gujarat's First OTT Platform on Letsflix to Hit the Ground Very Soon

As OTT platforms ride the new increased and easy internet access and data consumption wave, regional platforms are set to transform India’s info-space. Industrialist and Philanthropist - Narendra Firodia, Serial entrepreneur and India Network Founder- Rahul Narvekar, and Global Strategist and Impact Investor - Drummi Bhatt saw a void in the regional entertainment space and felt the need to fill this gap and set up Letsflix to stream world class vernacular content.
 
In 2019, the dynamic trio launched India’s first hyperlocal infotainment app, LetsUp, which now caters to 1.5 million users in 7 vernacular languages. A regional OTT platform seemed like a natural progression as the trio understood the power of vernacular audio-video content with the success, they achieved with LetsUpp, and hence, decided to launch Letsflix to redefine the vernacular OTT space with world-class production quality.
 
Letsflix is all set to capture the regional OTT market by streaming world class quality content in 4 Indian regional languages Marathi, Bangla, Bhojpuri and Gujarati, in the next few months. Narendra Firodia says, “We saw a gap in the regional OTT space and set up Letsflix to take quality regional content to every region in India and to the Indian diaspora that has an unsatiated appetite for content in their own languages.” Rahul chimes in: “Regional content is the way forward and that market is exponentially bigger than English and Hindi content which is already very crowded. Boston Consulting Group has estimated that by 2023, the Indian regional OTT market will touch $5Billion! We will soon be streaming movies, serials, comedy shows and other Letsflix Originals in Gujarati.” A super excited Drummi adds in: “Gujarat has a rich culture and have produced some outstanding artists in music and theatre world, and we want to take top quality Gujarati entertainment to every Gujarati speaking audience in the world.” 
 
Letsflix- Gujarati, will offer entertainment in the dialects of Gujarat that includes Gujarati, Kutchi, Kathiawari, and showcase talent from all corners of Gujarat. The content will be diverse including short films, blockbuster movies, web-series, stand-up comedy to Dayros/Bhavai and original content to cater to all vernacular viewers taste across Gujarat, with world-class production quality.
 
Letsflix is currently in the content research and brand strategy phase, aggregating and curating content in different languages, and is keen to work with people across the entertainment spectrum and is inviting partnerships and alliances. 
 
The pre-launch event of Letsflix-Gujarati is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, February 16th, 2021, at Taj Skyline, Sindhu Bhavan Road, Ahmedabad. The star-studded event will be attended by noted personalities from the film, music, media and entertainment space.

Spotify Launches in South Korea

Today Spotify (NYSE: SPOT) launches its service in South Korea, giving Korean listeners access to over 60 million tracks and over 4 billion playlists from around the world. As the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, Spotify offers an effortlessly simple interface, an innovative technology framework, everyday new music discovery and algorithmic recommendations personalized to each listener’s music taste. This launch brings Spotify’s total number of markets to 93.

As the sixth-largest music market in the world*, South Korea is a critical next step in Spotify’s global expansion journey. Not only is South Korea among the most digitally inclusive markets in the world, but it is also widely recognized as a cultural and music epicenter, in part due to the global phenomena K-Pop. Since Spotify debuted its first K-Pop playlist in 2014, the share of K-Pop listening on the platform has increased by more than 2,000%. With this launch, Spotify plans to accelerate the growth of Korea’s entire music streaming ecosystem, benefitting creators, labels, distributors and fans. 

“We always want to be where the listeners and artists are, and Korea is rich in both,” said Alex Norström, Chief Freemium Business Officer of Spotify. “This launch presents a massive opportunity for us to not only further our mission of bringing new and quality content to more audiences, but also help local Korean artists tap into Spotify’s 320 million listeners worldwide. We hope to create more opportunities for Korean artists across all genres to be discovered by listeners around the world.”

Spotify has uniquely tailored the music experience for each market. As a part of today’s launch, Spotify is introducing a range of new playlists made exclusively for South Korea. These playlists offer curated and the latest music from our team of Korean music experts, across some of the most popular genres. These include:  

• TOP Playlists: Korean Music Hot Now, FRESH! New Music Korea, Hot Hits Korea, Korean Music Rising, Today's Drama OST Hot Now, K-Pop Daebak and more
• Genre Playlists: TrenChill K-R&B, TrenChill K-Hip Hop, K-HIP-HOP +82, K-Are & Be, In The K-Indie, Korean City Pop, K-Rock Spirit, Folk & Acoustic Hot Now, Orchestra Korean Ballad and more
• Thematic Playlists: You Did Well, The End of the Day, So Cool Driving, Brain Rest 432Hz, Lullaby zZZ, Transcendental Game Play, Running K-Pop, GAYO Instrumentals, Spring Music, Into the Rain, Next Page of the Break-up, Kitchen Melodies and more
• ‘Starring’ playlists: This Is BTS, This Is BLACKPINK, This Is Stray Kids, This Is NCT, This Is TWICE, This is Taeyeon, This Is JAY Park, This Is CHUNG HA, This Is Loco and more

These new playlists will join Spotify’s K-Pop genre hub that encompasses a wide range of Korean music, including K-pop, Hip Hop, Indie, OST, R&B and more, as well as ‘RADAR Korea’, a playlist uncovering fresh K-music finds and a part of Spotify’s global emerging artist program. The hub is localized in over 72 countries, including Russia, India, Brazil and the UAE.

 

In Korea, new listeners can try out Spotify Premium 7 days-free on their mobile phone with no credit card information and a total of 3 months-free with credit card information, if subscribed before the end of June 2021. Listeners can engage with Spotify across a wide range of devices and app integrations including Instagram, Facebook, Samsung mobile and TV, LG TV, Microsoft Xbox, Bose and more.

 

The Spotify app is available to download for both Premium Individual and Duo plans. To enjoy music the way you want it, download the Spotify app today via the Android or iOS app store or by heading to www.spotify.com/kr-ko/.

 

Click here for further imagery.

 

* According to IFPI (https://www.ifpi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Global_Music_Report-the_Industry_in_2019-en.pdf)

 

About Spotify Technology S.A.

 

Spotify transformed music listening forever when we launched in 2008. Our mission is to unlock the potential of human creativity by giving a million creative artists the opportunity to live off their art and billions of fans the opportunity to enjoy and be inspired by these creators.

 

Today, with over 60 million tracks and over 4 billion playlists, we are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service with a community of more than 320 million listeners across 93 markets.

 

We use our Investors and For the Record websites as well as other social media listed in the “Resources – Social Media” tab of our Investors website to disclose material company information. For more information, images, or to contact the press team, head over to https://newsroom.spotify.com/.

 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210201005846/en/

NexPlayer Becomes a Unity Verified Solutions Partner to Enable Premium Video Streaming

NexPlayer, the leading player SDK for premium video apps, now supports Unity games, becoming a Unity Verified Solutions Partner. 

NexPlayer for Unity offers many functionalities such as high-quality HLS and DASH streaming across all Android and iOS devices, subtitles, ad insertion, and content protection using Widevine Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Unity game developers can now easily update and deliver video content to players by simply changing the source URL. NexPlayer enables advanced video ads and the distribution of video content inside games, allowing for the creation of new, innovative revenue streams that publishers can integrate into their games. NexPlayer for Unity supports Windows, Mac, Android, as well as iOS and will be available on WebGL in Q1 2021.  

Carlos Lucas, CEO of NexStreaming said: “From the beginning, NexPlayer has been a multiscreen player, supporting platforms like Android, iOS, Tizen, WebOS, Xbox, PlayStation, and HTML5. Becoming a Unity Verified Solutions Partner allows us to be integrated into the most popular gaming apps. We are very excited to support the Unity community." 

See more technical details on the Nexplayer GitHub: https://github.com/NexPlayer/NexPlayer_Unity_Plugin

About NexPlayer

NexPlayer is the leading multiscreen player SDK for premium video services, integrated inside the apps of ATT, Sky, Turner, BT or TVB. It is fully customizable and available for Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox, Samsung Tizen, LG WebOS Smart TVs, Android & iOS apps as well as HTML5 browsers. For more information: https://nexplayersdk.com/ 

About the Unity Verified Solution Partner Program 

Being a Verified Solutions Partner means NexPlayer has been verified by Unity to ensure its SDK is optimized for the latest version of the Unity editor, providing a seamless experience for Unity developers. For more information: https://unity.com/partners/verified-solutions. 

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201210005137/en/

AI-based Live-Streaming Video Shopping Platform KIKO TV Raises Funding led by 9Unicorns

9Unicorns leads an undisclosed seed investment in KIKO TV, an AI-based live-streaming video shopping platform
 

The made-in-India video-commerce app was launched following the Indian government's ban on Chinese apps

Shivam Varshney, Founder - KIKO TV

Mumbai, 7th December, 2020: 9Unicorns, India's first idea-phase accelerator VC fund, has recently led an undisclosed seed investment in KIKO TV, India's first live streaming e-commerce platform committed to delivering an assisted shopping experience powered by AI. The funding round also saw participation from investors like Vinayak Srivastava and Saket Dandotia (Co-founders– Toch), Sunil Kumar Singhvi (Managing Partner at Singhvi Heritage LLP), and Srinivas Kotta (Senior Technical role at Adobe).

Founded in 2020 by IIT Bombay Alumni Shivam Varshney and Alok Chawla, KIKO TV aims to bring a native feel to the digital shopping experience of internet consumers through its live, interactive,and entertaining platform. Its AI-led technology is set to disrupt the social commerce market by leveraging social media's immense reach for enabling e-commerce. The entertainment app enables online retailers and influencers to create content for marketing, branding and sales while enabling a one-on-one live selling session with the potential buyers, creating a more authentic experience of the transaction. Apart from viewing, liking and sharing the videos, any user can become an influencer and sell their own product or brand instantly on the platform.

Alok Chawla, Co-Founder KIKO TV

Speaking on the investment, Shivam Varshney, Founder – KIKO TV, said, "We believe 9Unicorns and Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma are ideal investors and mentors for the long journey ahead for KIKO TV. We are very excited and enthusiastic about this partnership. KIKO will be using the funds for building and improving our technology and expanding our customer base."

The idea behind launching the app was to integrate both entertainment and live shopping experience for the users and hence redefine the overall seller-buyer relationship on social media platforms. Through automated content tagging, users can also instantly find related products from any video that is being played.

Dr. Apoorva Ranjan Sharma, Co-founder & Managing Director – 9Unicorns, said, "Social platforms today have turned into quick and convenient distribution channels for businesses. This new-age trend of social commerce is transforming the retail and e-commerce sector by influencing customers' purchase decision and habits. KIKO TV has great opportunity in this emerging market and the potential to reshape India's e-commerce landscape for the better. We hope that the funding fuels their vision of unlocking a more efficient and advanced future of sales and marketing for countless online businesses in India and beyond."

The home-grown app offers videos on travel, food, fashion, comedy, workout, lifestyle and product reviews and is available for download on both Android and iOS.

About 9Unicorns

9Unicorns is India's First Accelerator VC. It provides acceleration support & seed funding to early-stage startups. 9Unicorns provides funding upto $100K per startup in the first round, and may invest further $500K-$2Mn in successive rounds with its co-investors. From idea stage to angel stage, it supports startups across various themes & sectors.

9Unicorns' strength & focus is on a hands-on support ecosystem for startups, beyond capital. 9Unicorns, besides investment, opens doors to the startups for access to a wide network of successful founders, category-leaders, CXOs of large corporations, seasoned angel investors & partners of global VC funds. Every portfolio company receives an acceleration support for 3 months & post-investment support of 18 months.

For more information, please reach out to info@9unicorns.in or find more information at www.9unicorns.in 

New International Podcast 'betterthanPeter' Launched

• Reham Khan featured as the First Podcast Guest
• Titled better talks with betterthanPeter the first episode releases on December 3rd 
• Available on all major platforms like Spotify, JioSaavn, Gaana and others 

A new International podcast has been launched known as 'betterthanPeter' which endeavours to bring guests from different genres, cultures with interesting stories to share. Titled better talks with betterthanPeter the first episode airs on December 3rd on all major platforms like Spotify, JioSaavn, Gaana and others. The first podcast guest is celebrated personality Reham Khan, British-Pakistani journalist, author, and filmmaker and the teaser of the upcoming epsiode can be viewed on the Betterthanpeterpodcast Instagram page.

Rohan Bhardwaj, Director - betterthanPeter Podcast

According to Rohan Bhardwaj, Director - betterthanPeter Podcast, "With an estimated 40 million podcast listeners in India, the sector is witnessing a 60% growth as new firms and new shows swamp the market. Moreover, the pandemic has increased the reach of people and more people are tuning to the different content." He further added that with our unique podcast, we aim to reach out to millennials and create a niche audience making listening to podcast as a habit. There has been long hours of continuous work before releasing the podcast with ample research, reaching out to potential guests, editing and promoting across social media channels. 

betterthanPeter podcast focuses on conversations with Rohan Bhardwaj as the talk show host. The guest will be the hero of the show and the audience will definitely hear something that they have not heard before. For Instance, Reham Khan cannot live without Spotify or one of his upcoming high profile guests wakes up at 3:45 am every day. 

About Rohan Bhardwaj

Rohan Bhardwaj is the director of new international podcast betterthanPeter. At the start of 2020, Rohan was planning to launch a dating App by the same name and received pre-seed funding. But with the pandemic, he had to abort the idea as it was a time of uncertainty. After taking a month completely off and listening to an insane number of podcasts, Bhardwaj woke up with the idea of pivoting and launching his own podcast keeping the same brand name. A huge admirer of Gary Vee and making lemonade from lemon, he committed fully in research and understanding the podcast market and with persistence the idea of betterthanPeter Podcast became a reality.

With a diverse 15 years of experience, Rohan has been an entrepreneur and marketer for International Brands like Burger King, Applebees and worked in six different International markets. With such vast experience, Rohan has travelled extensively across India, US, Dubai understanding the consumer behaviour, needs of each market from brand perspective. It was this understanding which has led to his new venture.

Dramz Global LLC Announces Its Global Video Streaming App vRockk

In its endeavor to create a social media platform with a difference that rewards the content creators, Dramz Global LLC an international software conglomerate with its teams across the globe announces the launch of its video streaming app vRockk. The company looks forward to a dignified presence all over the world.

vRockk is a social media connectivity platform for video creation and streaming. The platform aims to work together with the content creators and to ensure the ethical, visual and production quality of the content. The vision is simple, to bring all the talent from all facets of life to the limelight and to make sure they are recognized for their efforts; rewarded for their skills and become celebrities in their own right.

Aesthetic design, user friendly interface will make this app easy to navigate and use. While the lucrative gifts and coin system will help vloggers and content creators to generate a stream of revenue from within the app. vRockk has a simplified monetary system for end-user where they can receive gifts and ultimately encash those gifts.

The team behind the development and launch of vRockk is an international one with background in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and India. Global exposure has empowered the team to understand the audience in different regions of the world and the app features are developed accordingly to offer superior experiences to the people from all parts of the globe. The app will be initially launched in 50 countries in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

The Tech savvy team of Dramz Global LLC. is geared to achieve excellence by offering and engaging experience to end-users. The continuous development and enhancement of the app ensures that exciting features are offered with every major update.

The Vision of the company is to put content creator at the forefront. It’s reflected in the tagline of the company that says “Together". The company is together with the content creator to highlight their talent and promote them. They are the stars of vRockk.  

The app is available for Download from Google Play starting the evening of 26^th September 2020. The iOS version is currently in a testing phase and will be launched in coming days.

Online Curated Content Industry Unveils "Universal Self-Regulation Code for OCCPs"

The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) today unveiled the Universal Self-Regulation Code for OCCPs (“Code”). The Code has been adopted by 15 leading Online Curated Content Providers in India. The present set of signatories include Zee5, Viacom 18, Disney Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, MX Player, Jio Cinema, Eros Now, Alt Balaji, Arre, HoiChoi, Hungama, Shemaroo, Discovery Plus, Flickstree.

The goal of this industry-wide effort is to empower consumers with information and tools to assist them in making informed choice with regard to viewing decisions for them and their families, while at the same time, nurturing creativity and providing creators the freedom to tell the finest stories. By aiming to do what is best for both consumers and creators as guiding principles, the Code intends for India to be one of the most dynamic and fastest growing entertainment industries in the world.

To give consumers more choice and control, the Universal Self-Regulation Code includes a framework for age classification and content descriptions for titles as well as access control tools. The Code also introduces a clear, transparent and structured grievance redressal and escalation mechanism for reporting non-compliance with the prescribed guidelines. As a part of this mechanism, each OCCP will set-up a Consumer Complaints Department and/or an internal committee, as well as an advisory panel which will deal with complaints, appeals and escalations. The advisory panel will constitute a minimum of three members, including an independent external advisor and two senior executives of the respective OCCP. 

Tarun Katial, Chair, Digital Entertainment Committee, IAMAI said, “The Universal Self-Regulation Code for OCCPs is built around a shared belief that consumer empowerment and creative excellence are key to the long-term success of the Indian entertainment industry. With the Framework for Age Classification, Content Descriptions and parental controls in combination with a grievance redressal system, we’ve made it easier for consumers to make the right viewing decisions for themselves and their families.” 

“The combination of empowering consumers and enabling creative excellence will help Online Curated Content Providers be at the forefront of taking the best stories from India to the world and bringing the finest stories from around the world to Indian consumers. Most of the major streaming services have adopted the Code and we look forward to others joining.” he added.

The Code is effective from 15 August 2020 and allows OCCPs to comply with all the guidelines in a time bound manner. Each signatory to the code has agreed to appoint an external advisor as part of the grievance redressal mechanism within 60 days from today. 

About IAMAI

The Internet and Mobile Association of India [IAMAI] is a young and vibrant association with ambitions of representing the entire gamut of digital businesses in India. It was established in 2004 by the leading online publishers, and in the last 16 years has come to effectively address the challenges facing the digital and online industry including mobile content and services, online publishing, mobile advertising, online advertising, ecommerce and mobile & digital payments among others.

Sixteen years after its establishment, the association is still the only professional industry body representing the online industry in India. The association is registered under the Societies Act and is a recognized charity in Maharashtra. With a membership of nearly 300 Indian and overseas companies, and with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, the association is well placed to work towards charting a growth path for the digital industry in India.

AWS Announces Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS)

Amazon IVS gives customers the ability to add live and interactive video in their mobile and web applications in minutes, using the same technology as Twitch (one of the most popular live streaming services in the world)

Amazon Live, Blackboard, 17Live, DeNa, and ScreenCloud among customers using Amazon IVS

Amazon Web Services, Inc. (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), announced the general availability of Amazon Interactive Video Service (Amazon IVS), a new fully managed service that makes it easy to set up live, interactive video streams for a web or mobile application in just a few minutes. Amazon IVS uses the same technology that powers Twitch, one of the most popular live streaming services in the world with nearly 10 billion hours of video watched in 2019, giving customers live content with latency (the time video takes to go from the camera to the viewer) that can be less than three seconds (significantly lower than the 20-30 second latencies common with online streaming video today). Customers can easily configure and stream live video through their own website or mobile application, with scalable delivery that supports millions of concurrent viewers globally. With the Amazon IVS SDK and APIs, customers can also build interactive features into their live streams like virtual chat spaces, votes and polls, moderated question and answer sessions, and synchronized promotional elements. There are no additional charges or upfront commitments required to use Amazon IVS, and customers pay only for video input to Amazon IVS and video output delivered to viewers. To get started with Amazon IVS, visit https://aws.amazon.com/ivs.

Online audiences are increasingly turning to mobile and web applications for live video across sports, entertainment, education, and work. Today’s viewers require higher-resolution content and smooth video playback without buffering or delays no matter where they are or what device or application they are using. Viewers have also come to expect more interactivity in live streaming, so they can engage with those experiences (and others watching) as events unfold, not moments after they happen. Setting up the infrastructure to keep pace with consumer demand for live video is complex, time consuming, and expensive. Today, it takes customers months to build interactive applications with video workflows for content ingestion, processing, and distribution, and then they still need to configure transcoders for adaptive-bitrate-formatted streaming to support multiple types of devices, select the appropriate streaming protocols, set up the content delivery networks (CDNs), and integrate video players. Even after all this work, live-streamed interactive content still requires minimal latency for a good user experience. However, traditional video streaming requires video to be produced in various resolutions and divided into segments for delivery. Multiple segments are then stored in a buffer by the viewer’s video player so that playback resolution can be changed depending on the viewer’s network and device to optimize quality of service, all of which creates a lot of extra latency. This can mean that viewers experience latencies of 20-30 seconds, making it impossible for content creators to interact live with their audiences without sacrificing service quality.

Amazon IVS removes the cost and complexity associated with setting up live, interactive video streams, allowing customers to focus on building engaging experiences for their viewers. Amazon IVS is a fully managed service that makes high-quality, live-streaming video available to viewers around the world with latency that can be less than three seconds (as opposed to 20-30 seconds), so customers no longer need to make a tradeoff between interactivity and quality of service. To get started, customers simply send their live video to Amazon IVS using standard streaming software like Open Broadcaster Software (OBS). Amazon IVS ingests the video, then automatically transcodes and optimizes it, making it available for live delivery across AWS-managed global infrastructure in seconds using the same video transfer technology Twitch uses for its live streaming service. Content creators and developers can use the Amazon IVS player SDK to give audiences a consistent, low-latency live streaming experience across different viewing platforms and devices, without compromising video quality or increasing buffering. Customers can then combine the Amazon IVS SDK and APIs to attach structured text data to video streams, and create interactive content, including polls, surveys, and leaderboards, all of which are automatically synchronized to the live video. For example, a developer making a trivia application or a virtual town hall can use the API to ensure that viewers see the same questions at the same moment in the live video stream. With Amazon IVS, customers can now directly access the same technology that powers Twitch to create engaging live video experiences in their own applications and deliver them to viewers around the world.

"Customers have been asking to use Twitch's video streaming technology on their own platforms for a range of use cases like education, retail, sports, fitness, and more,” said Martin Hess, GM, Amazon IVS. “Now with Amazon IVS, customers can leverage the same innovative technology that has taken Twitch over a decade to build and refine. Any developer can build an interactive live streaming experience into their own application without having to manage the underlying video infrastructure.”

Amazon Live is a page on Amazon.com where shoppers can discover livestream content and browse recorded livestreams. “With Amazon IVS, handling live video streams is very simple, which means we can devote more time to producing engaging content and features that allow viewers to interact with creators in real-time,” said John Katsavrias, Senior Development Manager, Amazon Live. “Amazon IVS enabled us to move quickly to unlock our creators’ ability to livestream so they can produce awesome content that inspires customers and helps them discover new products.”

Blackboard's mission is to advance learning in partnership with the world's education community. “Blackboard serves millions of users in countries in every region around the globe. As instructional techniques evolve and we continue to grow, we’re exploring how we can improve our interactive video experiences for all users, which is where Amazon IVS is changing the game,” said Scott Hurrey, Staff Engineering at Blackboard. “In one day, we were able to quickly integrate IVS into our teaching and learning workflow. It handles a majority of the work on the back end, freeing up more time for our team focus on creating and building standout experiences.”

17Live is an interactive live video app that connects entertainers around the world with their fans. “Integrating with Amazon IVS allows us to help our entertainers engage larger audiences with more interactive experiences and expand into new geographies,” said Eric Hsu, VP of Engineering at M17 Group. “The end-to-end service allows us to address our scaling, quality of service, and expansion challenges.”

DeNA's Pococha is a pioneer in Japanese live streaming. “Amazon IVS provides the leading edge of live video technology transformations and maintains high availability systems, all while reducing the operational burden of managing complex, distributed live video networks," said Daisuke Mizuta, Producer of Pococha at DeNA. "With it, we can focus more on enhancing user-oriented functions and interactivity to ensure we're providing an irreplaceable experience.”

ScreenCloud helps businesses communicate better with teams and customers by transforming their spaces with smart, connected digital signage. “The ease of use and simplicity of Amazon IVS allows us to focus on delivering innovation rather than worrying about video infrastructure,” said Luke Hubbard, CTO of ScreenCloud. “We have been able to quickly integrate video conferencing tools with Amazon IVS to provide our customers an interactive broadcast solution.”

The Amazon IVS Management Console and APIs for control and creation of streams are available in the US East (N. Virginia), US West (Oregon), and Europe (Ireland) regions, with video ingestion and delivery available around the globe over a separate managed network of infrastructure that is optimized for live video.

Source - Press. AboutAmazon.com

ALTBalaji and Retail-Tech Firm Pay Point India Join Hands for Deeper OTT Penetration

The offline recharge for video-on-demand service is the first-of-its-kind industry initiative.

Mumbai, July 3, 2020: Intending to deepen existing market presence and penetrate new markets, ALTBalaji and PayPoint India have entered into a strategic partnership. This initiative is primarily for the rural and semi-rural markets with a set of viewers who require digital-assistance and offline subscription payment options.  

With PayPoint’s 45,000 plus tech-enabled retailers across India wherein more than 80 percent of its customers are spread across in rural and semi-rural markets, the partnership helps ATLBalaji acquire untapped customers by making content more accessible. For the ALTBalaji fans, the PayPoint offline stores provide seamless assistance for activation as well, along with paying for subscription and renewals in cash and access the program at the convenience of their homes. 

In the current pandemic,  ALTBalaji, which is an alternative for mainstream entertainment, has witnessed an increased audience in rural areas. PayPoint, a leading offline-to-online (O2O) company operating Pan India for the last 10 years, will provide access to its retail outlets to collect cash on behalf of ALTBalaji and allow the consumers to watch the fresh, original, and engaging contents on the over-the-top (OTT) platform. 

Ketan Doshi, Managing Director of PayPoint India, said, “For ALTBalaji like alternatives to mass entertainment, there is a huge fan following in the rural districts of India. However, for lower digital-savvy fans activating the service, and doing an offline recharge is a hindrance. This partnership will be a boon for the population to do an instant activation and renewal recharge.” 

“The offline recharge for such video-on-demand OTT service is the first of this kind and one such industry initiative. The association will help ALTBalaji achieve higher subscriber’s base, while PayPoint will be adding one of its kind product to the kitty of services that it is providing to the customers across the length and breadth of India, ” Ketan added. 

The association will enable ALTBalaji to take the OTT space to the masses and aggressively increase its viewership by reaching every corner of the country. Available across multiple interfaces ranging from desktops, laptops, tablets, smart-phones to internet-ready television, the subscription-based video on demand (SVOD) service marries state-of-the-art technology with gripping storytelling.  

PayPoint is a trusted partner for Last-Mile Delivery of Fast-Moving Consumer Services. It offers more than 100 services like bill payment, recharges, DTH, Travel booking, ATM withdrawals, Wallets, and many more. Technology-enabled Retailers brings benefit to the end customers in terms of accessibility, convenience in the neighborhood. 

About ALTBalaji

ALTBalaji is a subsidiary of Balaji Telefilms Limited, a subscription-based video on demand (SVOD) service, which has marked the Group’s foray into the Digital Entertainment space. After conquering television and making a strong mark in films, Balaji Telefilms aims to reach out directly to specific audiences, by providing them with original, exclusive shows, that they can access at their fingertips. ALTBalaji offers fresh, original, and unique stories. Tailored especially for Indians, across the globe, the platform hosts premium, high-quality shows featuring famous celebrities, acclaimed writers, and award-winning directors, making ALTBalaji a true alternative to mainstream entertainment.

About PayPoint India

PayPoint is a technology-enabled Distribution network of Financial Services. The company's digitally connected network of 45000+ offline stores offers various Financial services like Banking (PMJDY accounts), micro-ATM services, Wallets (Paypointz), Remittances, Bill payments, insurance, Merchant QR and many more. Apart from Financial services, PayPoint also offers consumer services to the underserved like Travel booking, Recharges, Amazon assisted shopping, Gift Cards, etc. through its strong network of retail stores spread across the country. The company’s retailer-driven assisted model helps customers make an informed decision for availing services from their trained partners and its digital platform. 

PayPoint offers a bouquet of services through its plug-and-play platform. More than 100 Services providers are plugged into the company's system and interact with them on a real-time basis catering to more than 5 million customers month on month. The primary objective is to bridge the financial inclusion gap between developed urban India and under-served rural India.