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Homegrown OTT platform <keyword id="4241922" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="ALTBalaji">ALTBalaji</keyword>, known for its <keyword id="9150642" type="AGENCY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hindi-Originals">Hindi originals</keyword>, which has sold over 16 lakh subscriptions in the third quarter, said that their focus in the coming time is going to be the "electrifying market" of next billion internet users hailing from the <keyword id="6357660" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="hindi">Hindi</keyword> heartlands across the Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities. IANSlife spoke to <keyword id="158783" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nachiket-Pantvaidya">Nachiket Pantvaidya</keyword>, Group COO, <keyword id="5214" type="DOMAIN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Balaji-telefilms">Balaji Telefilms</keyword> and CEO, ALTBalaji to know about their digital presence and expansion. Excerpts: Q. 2020 was the <keyword id="10949416" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="ott-boom">OTT boom</keyword>, for India and the rest of the world, how did your <keyword id="10949417" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="platform-catch">platform catch</keyword> and utilise this wave? Pantvaidya: ALTBalaji's content line-up for the year is geared for the Bharat audience, who comprise 59 percent of the viewership on the <keyword id="235499" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="APP">app</keyword>. The platform continues to see very strong engagement metrics that include watch time that remains close to an hour-a-day mark, despite the plethora of competing content. As per the Q3 FY21 results, ALTBalaji is adding over 20,000 to 22,000 subscriptions a day in this extremely thriving OTT business. We sold 1.6 Mn+ subscriptions in the third quarter on the back of a super-strong content lineup, and a strategic increase in marketing spend. The OTT platform also saw multiple new shows being added, taking the total number of shows on their platform to 77, which makes it one of the most diverse OTT platforms with content catering across demographics as per the viewers' choice. Q. What are some top OTT trends/viewer preferences you have witnessed over the past year? Pantvaidya: OTT platforms have started experimenting with varied genres of content, which has led to the growth and expansion of web business. OTT has gained significant momentum, the credit for which to an extent goes to digitization, affordable internet plans, rise in smartphone consumption patterns, among other factors. India is not only one of the fastest-growing media and entertainment markets globally but is also well poised to keep this momentum ablaze. It will make India and the globe at large, more digital-savvy; creating a larger sample size of the audience for the content, whether originals, movies, news, music, or sports, available on OTT platforms. Q. What are ALTBalaji's content production and curation strategy? Where does the focus lie and why? Pantvaidya: With the next billion internet users hailing from the Hindi heartlands across the Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities, we are focusing on this electrifying market. Showcasing a high sense of pro-activeness in the situation, we were able to do many marketing innovations over the past few months. This has helped us curate more digital touchpoints that help us reach out to our viewers in a host of interactive and engaging ways and uplift their viewing experience. There is a huge churn issue in the OTT industry. What works optimally for us is to focus on consumer segmentation, mapping audience behaviour, focused customer retention, optimizing customer life cycle, and progressive strategies for onboarding new consumer segments; who are new to the internet or women in smaller markets, etc. Our content strategy has always been aimed at mass India across segments of the audience and continues to do so, however, our content today allows people to do family viewing as well as individual viewing as per each individual's taste &amp; preference. With a strategy to focus on youth programming for the country, ALTBalaji's offerings include premium, disruptive content, and original series across genres. With originality, courage, and relentlessness at its core, ALTBalaji's range, stands out for being avant-garde, non-conformist, inclusive, effervescent, and has something for everyone. Q. The market now has many big and small players vying for consumer attention. What do you think is the future of OTT in India? Pantvaidya: As per a report by PwC on Global Entertainment &amp; Media Outlook: 2020-2024, India is the fastest-growing OTT market at 28.6 percent CAGR; to become the sixth-largest market in 2024. At ALTBalaji, we intend to be the dominant player catering to this market especially tier II, tier III towns, and hinterlands at price points that reflect affordability desired by them and testified basis our consumption data from these markets for 77 shows over the last three years. In the upcoming quarter, we will focus on building a content bouquet that serves inclusive and individualistic viewing, for which, we have ramped our production machinery to be able to create at least 40 shows a year targeted at these markets. We have also created an efficient model to manage costs at less than one-third of what the market spends today while continuing to reign as a leader in the number of original show launches. We believe that we can target growth in the youth segment in mass India over and above male and female target audience aged between 20-40 and intend to double our direct subscriptions to double-digit figures in the coming year. While the pandemic year 2020 redefined how content will be consumed  the year 2021 will chart new business alliances and revenue models for platforms to acquire direct subscriptions. Due to the Covid-19 impact, new consumers are coming from the heartland and we are riding that wave. The report from FICCI and E&amp;Y has predicted 30-35 million paying subscribers on OTT platforms alone in the year 2021, and we are excited about carving a substantial pie out of the same. 2020 has also played a catalytic process in putting us on track to become the first profitable OTT platform, and we seek to break even and become an Rs 150 crore entity with at least 100 original shows by 2021. To further penetrate the Hindi heartlands, we will work on simplifying our UI/UX further, by bringing in voice search, one button click registration, as well as easy payment modules in retail and digital. Q. The Indian diaspora makes for a significant chunk of your viewers. Does that influence your approach? Pantvaidya: At ALTBalaji, we have always focused on massification and dominating the Hindi-speaking markets. Our goal to curate clutter-breaking and relatable content has been consistent right from the very beginning, and we shall continue to massify our content across urban and rural India. 59% of our consumers are from the non-metro and tier 2/tier 3 towns and cities, and this rise in viewership over the past few months is only going to see us work towards entertaining the Bharat audience with new exciting offerings in the months to come. We have always believed in creating diverse shows with stories that are unique, untold, and undiscovered. Over the past couple of years, we have taken narratives on the screen that no one would dare explore. Providing a healthy mix of genres to the viewer, each of our shows has been made keeping in mind their interests, amongst other crucial parameters. Q. What's next for ALTBalaji? Pantvaidya: ALTBalaji has been working towards its goals and is the first OTT platform already on the road to profitability. With our costs getting controlled and the loss margin further reducing at the end of the current fiscal, we are aiming to break even soon. Our shows, which even launched 3 years ago, are still popular amongst audiences and relevant even in today's date. In addition to that, we cater to a diverse set of audiences across the length and breadth of the country. A host of our Hindi offerings have also been dubbed in Indian and International languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bhasa, Arabic, etc. amongst others. We shall continue to focus on expanding our language content library in the coming years. For the upcoming year, ALTBalaji has an exciting pipeline, consisting of multiple shows such as The Married Woman, Apharan 2, Broken But Beautiful 3, The Test Case 2, PuncchBeat Season 2, Hum se Humsafar, Cartel, His Storyy, and many more. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/airtel-adds-3-times-more-subscribers-than-reliance-jio-vodafone-idea-turns-positive-for-the-first-time-in-15-months/articleshow/81562851.cms">Airtel adds 3 times more subscribers than Jio while Vodafone Idea gets net addition first time in 15 months</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ecommerce/news/amazon-wipro-consumer-and-ascent-capital-invest-in-beauty-brand-myglamm/articleshow/81563765.cms">Amazon, Wipro Consumer and Ascent Capital invest in beauty brand MyGlamm</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/japan-is-the-only-country-that-does-not-allow-same-sex-marriage-within-the-g7/articleshow/81563467.cms">Japan’s same-sex marriage ban ruled ‘unconstitutional’ as India’s LGBTQ community waits in hope</a>

AltBalaji plans to capitalise on the next billion 'electrifying' internet users from the 'Hindi heartlands'

<ul><li>As <keyword id="4241922" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ALTBalaji">ALTBalaji</keyword> completes three years of its existence, we look back at its journey, talk about some key highlights that helped it become the first OTT player in India on its way to profitability. </li><li><keyword id="158783" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nachiket-Pantvaidya">Nachiket Pantvaidya</keyword>, CEO, ALTBalaji and Group COO, Balaji Telefilms further shares his growth plan and says the focus now will be to help ALTBalaji dominate the Hindi-speaking markets. </li></ul>While the lockdown has brought video production to a standstill, that hasn’t deterred ALTBalaji’s spirit. It had announced to launch 30 originals earlier this year and is still on track to achieve its goal. Apart from that, Nachiket Pantvaidya, CEO, ALTBalaji and Group COO, Balaji Telefilms is also confident that the demand for content will continue to rise even after we resume normalcy and on the back of that, he is hoping to break even in FY21. ALTBalaji currently has 1.7 million active direct subscribers and as we all continue to be house arrested and binge-watching content on <keyword id="5293670" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="OTT-platforms">OTT platforms</keyword>, it is also witnessing a 60% growth in subscriptions with an average of 17,000 subscriptions added per day post lockdown vs an average of 10,600 in March 2020 pre-lockdown. After completing three years on building a strong content library with 60 originals, Pantvaidya’s focus now will be to help ALTBalaji dominate the Hindi speaking markets. He further shared with us some key highlights the platform has seen in the past three years, what sets it apart from other players and his vision to take ALTBalaji to the next level. Nachiket Pantvaidya, CEO, ALTBalaji and Group COO, Balaji Telefilms: Q) Can you walk me through some of the key highlights that ALTBalaji has seen in its three-year-journey? Having set milestones and breaking new grounds for over three years, our journey has been fairly business-positive and will continue to do so. Since its inception, ALTBalaji has been on top of the consumer mind for its unique narratives and clutter-breaking original Hindi content and we have aggressively grown on the back of innovative business strategies. Moving from strength to strength, we’ve today become a major player in the Indian OTT industry and gained further encouragement by the massive increase in subscriber base. With a substantial bouquet of original content across genres that keeps viewers engaged, our app has consistently ranked amongst the top 3 Grossing Video Streaming Apps in the country across the app store (Source: App Annie). With content being ALTBalaji’s biggest differentiator, the platform has reached out to all kinds of audiences across the length and breadth of the country through a healthy mix of thriller, drama, romance, teenage drama, horror, comedy among others. ALTBalaji has also been a pioneer in starting the trend of original soundtracks in the web-series space. Laying impetus towards growing its regional subscriber base, we have a host of our Hindi offerings dubbed in Indian and International languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bahasa, Arabic, etc. amongst others. In their endeavour to engage the audience and offer them an immersive viewing experience, ALTBalaji is also working towards strengthening its UI/UX by focusing on aspects like language interface, voice search, targeted retention strategies, tailored recommendations, quick onboarding, and convenient payment gateways. Q) What does your current content library look like? How many originals have you launched thus far? Owing to our resounding mass appeal, we have emerged as the fastest-growing homegrown platform with more than 60 originals and we intend to leave no stone unturned in curating more in the coming future. With a plethora of diverse content spanning across multiple genres, our programming has something for everyone. While our recently-launched popular shows like ‘Mentalhood’, ‘Code M’, Mission Over Mars, ‘Class of 2020’, ‘Ragini MMS 2’, ‘Broken 2’, ‘Hum Tum and Them’ etc. have been loved by the audience, there is still a demand for the shows like ‘Haq Se’, ‘Apharan’, ‘Bose Dead/Alive’, ‘The Test Case’, ‘The Great Indian Dysfunctional Family’, ‘Home’ which were launched more than a year back. Q) What kind of growth have you seen in your subscriber base after the lockdown? Since audience retention is a challenge, how will you make sure that you continue seeing this growth after we resume normalcy? ALTBalaji is witnessing a strong uptake of digital subscriptions with an average of 17,000 subscriptions added per day post lockdown vs an average of 10,600 in March 2020 pre lockdown, a growth of 60%. As of date, the platform has over 1.7m active direct subscribers. OTT content consumption has witnessed steady growth throughout, and it will continue to do so, on its own. This situation, though an anomaly, will introduce a wider set of audiences to OTT, who we believe will continue the consumption, however, our focus remains on our long-term plan of creating unique narratives. It’s an obvious expression that once the pandemic is over, people will be juggling between work, social and personal commitments. Having said that, we are confident that having sampled our portfolio of exciting, original web series, to a wider audience that has a higher propensity and capacity to subscribe, we will continue as one of the top OTT platforms. Q) Your plan was to launch 30 originals this year. Do you still see that happening? So far, we are on track in terms of the show launches. We recently launched the highly-awaited web-series ‘Mentalhood’ that featured a stellar cast in the form of Karisma Kapoor, Dino Morea, Sandhya Mridul and Sanjay Suri, among others. The web-series has not only won accolades from critics but is also being consumed extensively by the audience. Apart from that, we also launched a very Delhi style comedy-drama ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’ featuring Rahul Dev and YouTuber Harsh Beniwal. Other big shows in the pipeline include ‘Baarish Season 2’, which features Sharman Joshi and Asha Negi in lead roles along with a cameo by legendary actor Jeetendra. Additionally, after two successful seasons, our show ‘Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain has Season 3’ on the cards along with ‘Beebaakee’ featuring Kushal Tandon, Karan Jotwani, Suchitra Pillai among others. Q) Where do you see your next set of subscribers coming from? How many do you aim to add to your kitty by the end of this year? India has become more digital-savvy with more and more people coming on the internet. According to a market research firm techARC, India had 502.2 million smartphone users as of December 2019. The time spent on phones has substantially increased especially during this phase. According to KPMG’s recent report titled ‘COVID-19: The many shades of a crisis’, the penetration of subscription-based digital models is set to accelerate. From a content segmentation and a subscription acquisition point of view, one needs to start looking at these newer people to acquire. What works for us is to concentrate on consumer segmentation behaviour, understanding how to retain the customers better and working on onboarding the new segment who have just been acquainted with the internet. Q) What are your revenue goals for this fiscal? Given the national lockdown, all content production has come to a standstill, we continue to monitor the situation closely. We are very confident that the demand for content will increase once the situation returns to normal and are well prepared to resume business and ramp up content sales once the lockdown is over. ALTBalaji has been working towards its goals and is the first OTT platform already on the road to profitability. With our costs getting controlled in the first half of fiscal 2020 and the loss margin further reducing at the end of the current fiscal, we are aiming to break even in 2020-2021. Q) What do you believe is ALTBalaji’s strength in the market? Our mindset towards reading the market early on and taking action at the earliest has helped us stay ahead of the industry curve. This can probably only happen when the organization is tight, sharp and quick to react. With content being our biggest differentiator, we have been catering to all kinds of audiences through our diverse content offerings spanning multiple languages. Additionally, with Indian originals picking up the pace as audiences are on the lookout for local relatable content, we have the biggest Hindi content library of originals and are creating desi shows across genres. Q) What will be your focus this year? Where do you see ALTBalaji growing from here? We, at ALTBalaji, are currently focusing on ensuring that we dominate the Hindi speaking markets and then move ahead. If you look at the geography and demography of the country, 70% of the content consumed is Hindi. As a platform, it makes sense to focus your efforts in one direction and win over the Hindi-speaking population. Hence, this year we are first going to focus on ensuring that we dominate the Hindi space. We will gradually move towards other regional markets as well in the coming years. A host of our Hindi offerings have also been dubbed in Indian and International languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bhasa, Arabic, etc. amongst others. We shall continue to focus on expanding our language content library in the coming years.

ALTBalaji will break even this fiscal: Nachiket Pantvaidya, ALTBalaji

<ul><li>A comparison of the platform’s viewership in May 2019 to May 2020 sees the streaming platform garner 60% increase in viewership across non-metros.</li><li>The cities that raked in a two-fold growth in May compared to the same month last year include Patna, Ranchi, Shimla, Jodhpur, Gorakhpur, Imphal, Gaya, to name a few. </li></ul>With the number of digitally connected audiences consuming content in Hindi rising, this emerging trend in the country has helped ALTBalaji scale new heights. The platform’s viewership rose exponentially in May 2020 compared to the figures from May 2019. As per data collected from more than 1800 cities and towns, ALTBalaji garnered a 60% rise in viewership and a 21% growth in MAU (Monthly Active Users). With the Hindi market booming and content consumption headed for sharp growth, these numbers are a growing testament to ALTBalaji conquering the important HSM audience based in Bharat. The cities that raked in a two-fold growth in May compared to the same month last year include Patna, Ranchi, Shimla, Jodhpur, Gorakhpur, Imphal, Gaya, to name a few. These cities are yet another indicator of the Hindi language subset growing faster than any other spoken language in the country, which represents an increase in new users being added to the user base at a rapid pace. These numbers further attest to an industry report by KPMG titled - ‘Unravelling the digital video consumer’ whose findings reveal that 64% of India’s digital video consumers prefer consuming content in Hindi. On the growth, Nachiket Pantvaidya, CEO, ALTBalaji, and Group COO Balaji Telefilms said, “This rise in viewership is a growing testament to the huge untapped Tier 2,3 &amp; 4 markets for OTT players. At ALTBalaji, we are focusing on ensuring that we dominate the Hindi speaking markets and cement our position as a leader in this segment. By tapping into these hinterlands, we’ve realized the growing demand for Hindi originals that those audiences find immensely relatable. This has helped us understand our viewers better and led to us curating more engaging and entertaining offerings that resonate with them.” With a vast library of 60+ originals across genres that cater to all kinds of audiences, the shows at ALTBalaji are a mix of thriller, drama, romance, youth drama, horror, comedy amongst others. Each show present on the platform or in the pipeline has been created keeping in mind the audience’s interest across demographic and sociographic segments. Romantic dramas like ‘Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain’, ‘Karrle Tu Bhi Mohabbat’, ‘It Happened in Calcutta’, ‘Baarish’, ‘Dil Hi To hai’ etc enjoy a growing fandom amongst women in the 25-45 years TG. While on the other hand, thrillers like ‘Apharan’, ‘Ragini MMS’, ‘Code M’ are consumed by men in the 22- 45 age bracket. In addition to the above, shows such as ‘Mentalhood’, ‘The Test Case’, ‘MOM: Mission Over Mars’, ‘Bose: Dead/ Alive’, ‘The Verdict - State vs Nanavati’ are being consumed extensively by urban Indians across all age groups.

ALTBalaji sees a 60% increase in viewership and 21% growth in MAUs, led by non-metros

<ul><li><keyword id="3367417" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ALT-Balaji">ALT Balaji</keyword>, a home-grown platform in India, says it doesn’t want to compete with streaming giants Netflix and Amazon. </li><li>ALT Balaji was started three years back and has been among the big players in providing <keyword id="82395" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Regional-language">regional language</keyword>, mostly in Hindi, content in various parts of the country. </li><li>It is among the <keyword id="9382861" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="cheapest-apps">cheapest apps</keyword> which can be subscribed for ₹100 for three months.</li></ul>ALT Balaji, a home grown streaming platform, says it doesn’t want to compete with the giant over-the-top (OTT) platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. It would rather attract those millions of Indians who remain addicted to soap operas. “The app has done really well in itself. It is a cheap app and it does not want to contradict or fight Netflix but to get audiences who watch TV but land up watching what their family and friends want.I don’t want to make Netflix kind of shows, I want to make shows for tier 2 and tier 3 cities” <keyword id="6354597" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ekta-Kapoor">Ekta Kapoor</keyword> told Business Insider India in its latest episode of the Big Reset. <div type="twitter" handle="BiIndia" handlename="Business Insider India🇮🇳" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1232926719016718336/sfffJHNV_normal.jpg" favoritecount="118" retweetcount="59" status="#TheBigReset | @Biindia's @iyer_sriram speaks to @SunjoyJ of @orfonline, @BTL_Balaji's @ektarkapoor, @oyorooms'… https://t.co/KazRSOwkCG" createdat="1591785193000" id="1270665315731386369"></div> Kapoor is the joint managing director and creative head of <keyword id="5214" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Balaji-telefilms">Balaji telefilms</keyword>, which runs three different businesses under one company name — film production in one, television series under the second, and the OTT app ALT Balaji. While other businesses were hit by the lockdown, according to Kapoor, ALT Balaji saw significant growth in the last three months. ALT Balaji started three years back and it has been among the big players providing regional language content, mostly in Hindi, to Indian audiences. It is among the cheapest apps which can be subscribed for ₹100 for three months. It plans on dominating the Hindi speaking market in India. It currently has 1.7 million active subscribers who continue to binge content daily. <table style="border-width: initial; border-style: none; width: 468pt; table-layout: fixed;"></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">OTT Platform </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Price </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">ALT Balaji </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹100 for three months </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Amazon Prime Videos </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹999 a year </td></tr><tr><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">Netflix </td><td style="border-left:solid #000000 1pt;border-right:solid #000000 1pt;border-bottom:solid #000000 1pt;border-top:solid #000000 1pt;vertical-align:top;padding:5pt 5pt 5pt 5pt;overflow:hidden;overflow-wrap:break-word;">₹499 a month </td></tr></tbody></table> It has witnessed <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/media/article/altbalaji-will-break-even-this-fiscal-nachiket-pantvaidya-altbalaji/articleshow/75401635.cms">60% growth in its subscription</a> during the lockdown, <keyword id="158783" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nachiket-Pantvaidya">Nachiket Pantvaidya</keyword>, CEO told Business Insider earlier. With 60+ originals, Alt Bajaj claims to have the largest content library of Indian originals. Last year, AltBalaji and Zee5 partnered to c0-produce a few shows. And now, Kapoor wishes her homegrown OTT platform to reach out to an audience at international level. “No one knows that a lot of Indian content is watched in Africa”, Kapoor said, hoping that the Prime Minister’s call ‘vocal for local’ will be followed up with some push for Indian entertainment abroad. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/new-job-creation-in-india-next-three-months-is-likely-to-be-the-worst-ever-survey/articleshow/76296943.cms">New job creation in India next three months is likely to be the worst ever⁠— and that could lead to a lost year</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/ekta-kapoor-suggests-reducing-film-budget-by-atleast-30/articleshow/76304353.cms">Indian filmmakers should cut production cost by at least 30%, says Ekta Kapoor</a>

“ALT Balaji was never formed to compete with Netflix or Amazon,” says founder Ekta Kapoor

<keyword id="5214" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Balaji-telefilms">Balaji Telefilms</keyword>, the production house that has been munching stereotypical saas-bahu sagas in the name of entertainment for quite some time now, seems to have come of age. Catching up with the trend of going digital, Balaji has come up with a digital platform called ALTBalaji, which they say houses the biggest library of original exclusive digital content in India. With varied shows that cater to a different audience than Balaji’s usual, the platform has had an overwhelming response, says CEO <keyword id="158783" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Nachiket-Pantvaidya">Nachiket Pantvaidya</keyword>, adding that they have got close to four million downloads and customers from more than 80 countries. Unlike other players in the industry that offer viewers a free period to watch their shows, ALTBalaji provides them with free episodes of every show on <keyword id="10879" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="YouTube">YouTube</keyword>, and when they like it and want to proceed with further episodes, they can subscribe to the service. Pantvaidya feels that even though rival platforms were launched before ALTBalaji, their timing couldn’t have been better because of demonetisation and <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword>’s launch, which made an average Indian more digital- and internet friendly. Talking of the future, Pantvaidya says that India is still afar from the time when internet would replace television, but digital entertainment channels still have three defined types of audience to cater to: Indian men, who don’t have anything to watch on the television; people who would like to watch a finite series with limited episodes; and lastly, audiences who want to see better production values, which sadly Indian television can’t provide because of the compulsion of daily episodes. To gain massive success, he says that digital entertainment platforms need to create a habit of OTT viewing in Indian audience, and have affordable subscription plans to further attract them. Also, commitment to good characters and good stories is important as well. About the transition from television to internet, he says that the transition required us to deep-dive and come up with shows that were not typically Balaji-types, in order to create a variety. When asked why there’s a sudden shift from television to internet, he credits the speed and spread of internet and the technology of internet-ready devices, which has led to people watch digital shows at great speed, from anywhere across the country, and on bigger screens as per their preference. While Balaji has been stereotyping women and men in gender roles for as long as we remember, ALTBalaji, Pantvaidya suggests, is doing the opposite by bringing out female characters that defy these stereotypes. In <keyword id="4302697" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Karrle-Tu-Bhi-Mohabbat">Karrle Tu Bhi Mohabbat</keyword>, Sakshi Tanwar’s character is a single, working woman who is committed to her profession. In the female-centric show of DevDD, lead character Devika is taking on the system, standing up for women and their right to express themselves. Even in <keyword id="4408510" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="bewafaa-sii-wafaa">Bewafaa sii Wafaa</keyword>, the female lead Meghna, played by <keyword id="444213" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Aditi-Vasudev">Aditi Vasudev</keyword>, has an affair, which you won’t see in any of the shows that Balaji has produced. While we don’t agree with the idea that in order to appear modern and unconventional, a woman needs to have an extramarital affair, we understand what he means by saying that the women in these shows are different from their television counterparts. Speaking of the financial aspects of these web series, they work on a subscriber model and not an advertising model. Therefore, they need to give it some time to work to return money. While they get new subscriptions every month, they are also coming up with a new show every 15 days, so it’s difficult to decide as of now if a particular show is financially working or not. About a year or so down the line, they might also have some way to measure the success of individual shows, but it’s too soon to talk about that, signs off Pantvaidya.

In conversation with ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya on foraying into digital space

Mumbai, Apr 12 () The transition from the magic of the big screen experience, complete with popcorn, candy and push back chairs, to the small screen has been rapid as audiences adapt to life under lockdown and filmmakers resize their offerings in keeping with the times. With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, cinemas have downed their shutters and digital platforms are stepping up to meet the growing entertainment demands of millions of people across the world and in India spending their days confined to their homes. The trend is clear. The fear of the pandemic, which has infected more than 8,000 people and claimed at least 273 lives in India, could stay for maybe months after it abates. And audiences are unlikely to get back to the theatre in a hurry.Reading the writing on the screen, production houses and distributors have already moved their big screen releases to digital platforms.Irrfan's much awaited "Angrezi Medium" released on March 13 but theatres were already closing everywhere by then and the film was in the theatres for just a day. The movie is now available on newly launched Disney+Hotstar.Similarly "Bamfaad", which marks the debut of Paresh Rawal's son Aditya is available on ZEE5.In India, home grown digital platforms are reaping the benefits of the transition."Voot Select is seeing a definite surge in the uptake of subscribers. It is about 2.5 to 3 times higher than what we had estimated. But this growth cannot be attributed to increased consumption alone. The fact of the matter is Voot Select is a very new service - only three-week-old," said Ferzad Palia, head - Voot Select, Youth, Music &amp; English Entertainment Viacom18.Aparna Acharekar, programming head, ZEE5 India, said the platform is diversifying its content and even making it free."Through our initiative of #BeCalmBeEntertained, we have made a host of content available free for viewers. We also launched our Original 'State of Siege: 26/11' which garnered a fantastic response from the audience as well as critics."Besides "Bamfaad", which released on April 10, it also has a Short Film Festival coming up on April 15. The world, added Nachiket Pantvaidya, group chief operating officer, Balaji Telefilms and CEO of ALTBalaji, is facing a humanitarian crisis with most countries under lockdown to ensure the safety of their citizens."In the current scenario, we are encouraging our viewers to stay safe in self-isolation for which we shall continue to serve quality entertainment at the most optimized data usage," Nachiket told .Nachiket, who did not divulge data on the increase in subscriber count, added that they are urging subscribers to make the switch to SD (Standard Definition) from HD (High Definition)."While we have witnessed an increase in viewership and the time they spend consuming our content, our main objective is to ensure uninterrupted entertainment to their screens."Will all this forever change the way people consume content?That's the question uppermost in the minds of industry insiders as people settle into a lockdown routine and prepare for an extension. India has been under a lockdown after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on March 24."Cinema is a habit, if you break a habit for four-six months, you'll get a lot of people dissuaded to come to cinemas. Even if there is a reduction of 15-20 per cent of the footfall, which is anyway on a decline, cinema is going to be badly hit," Bihar-based exhibitor Vishek Chauhan told . The shrinking gap between theatrical releases and their debut on streaming platform has left cinema hall owners and exhibitors worried about their future."With everyone quarantined, digital platforms are "taking us by the throat and pushing down their content every week", Chauhan said. According to him, the comfort of OTT platforms poses a threat to the theatrical viewing experience because it's an "antithesis to appointment cinema". "Theatrical viewing is fixed at a particular time, a location, which isn't the case with OTT. You can watch unlimited content online using free data. This is a huge crisis we will face. It's not like the gates will open and people will throng our premises." "Imagine if I were Netflix or Amazon and made an offer to the makers of 'Sooryavanshi' to release it digitally, paying whatever amount they think they could've earned in theatrical, How long will Karan Johar, Rohit Shetty hold back?"There has been a substantial investment in the film and it's costing the makers interest on a daily basis as we speak," Chauhan said. "Sooryavanshi" is the third film in Rohit's cop universe after Ajay Devgn's "Singham" and Ranveer Singh-starrer "Simmba". The film was supposed to release on March 24 but has been postponed indefinitely due to the pandemic. Raj Bansal, senior distributor and exhibitor, said China, where the pandemic began, recently opened theatres but not many turned up. "That's such a clear indicator of where we stand today. No one is coming to cinema halls. At least that won't be on people's mind right now," said Bansal, director of Entertainment Paradise, a three-screen multiplex in Jaipur. Internationally, too, Disney, which recently launched its streaming service in India with Hotstar, has put some of its movies directly on Disney+. The titles include "Frozen 2" and "Onward" which arrived for home viewing faster than they would have had the cinemas been open.In an interview with Barron's, Disney's executive chairman Bob Iger said they were considering putting a few of their movies on the streaming platform."There are some we've decided to put on Disney+. We already announced one, Artemis Fowl, that would have been released in theaters. Others we've simply delayed. In some cases we've moved things onto Disney+ faster than we would have. 'Frozen 2' was one of them, but 'Onward' would be the biggest example. It was in theatres when this happened," Iger said when asked about films already in production. Similarly, Universal put "The Hunt" on streaming while Focus Features' made "Emma" available for early streaming. Dispelling the gloom, PVR Cinemas CEO Gautam Dutta said he is not worried about the future of theatres and considers the lockdown due to pandemic a challenging but short term problem. In an interview to recently, Dutta said, "Out of home entertainment is not just about watching movies. It is about eating out, about socializing, holding hands and creating memories. Once the lockdown is over and the situation improves, people will return to cinemas," he said. KKP BK MIN MINMIN

COVID-19 changes cinema game from big to small screen

If you are in the age group of 18-40 years and own a smartphone, watching TV series and movies through apps is nothing new. Thanks to <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword>, Hotstar and TVF, who have ventured into the Indian <keyword id="1245953" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="OTT">OTT</keyword> (Over -the -Top) content landscape last year and made the urban youths accustomed to the culture of paying and watching original video contents ranging from TV series to stand up comedies and movies. And now, the OTTs would be in run for money as the <keyword id="6377522" type="POSITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="queen">Queen</keyword> of Television, <keyword id="6354597" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Ekta-Kapoor">Ekta Kapoor</keyword> has now ventured into the OTT front with Alt Balaji app. <keyword id="53" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kapoor">Kapoor</keyword>, who had revolutionised the daily television in the early 2000s with family soaps and made media coin the term ‘saas-bahu’ shows has always been successful with her ventures. Though the family dramas, which the millennials agree to be tacky or her horror movies that lacked sense, Kapoor has her signature magic that made them a major hit. However with the viewers in OTT being different from the homemakers, ALTBalaji will deal with original contents only. How is it different from the competitors? Unlike others, the platform will offer 250+ hours of original, exclusive content to its subscribers. This ad free, subscription based platform is now commercially available with few of these original shows. “The most endearing feature of ALTBalaji is its content; we are launching with the promise to bring fresh and never heard of stories to our viewers. While we are starting with 5 shows, it will be followed by a new show every 15 days for the binge watch lovers. On one hand we offer story of India’s first female in combative role- THE TEST CASE on the other we have most loved TV stars in KARRLE TU BHI MOHABBAT. It is intriguing and fresh story-telling,” Nachiket Pantvaidya, CEO of ALTBalaji told Business Insider. “ Content As far as the teasers are to be believed, ALTBalaji is showing a great change in its dimension. Ranging from gay love story to woman army commando’s struggle, it seems to have some great content. Regional take This is one point where ALTBalaji made a major impact. While most OTT are focussed on English language, Kapoor’s venture will have most regional shows ranging from Tamil, Odiya and Bengali. ALTBalaji definitely takes the brownie for understanding the potential vernacular market of India. No new talents? The shows on video on demand platform are created by the best talent of Indian entertainment industry including critically acclaimed directors and actors. The long illustrious list of artists comprises of Nagesh Kukunoor, <keyword id="6371319" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Juhi-Chawla">Juhi Chawla</keyword>, Nimrat Kaur, Rajkumar Rao, Hansal Mehta, Sakshi Tanwar, Ram Kapoor, Atul Kulkarni, <keyword id="7559" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sameer-Soni">Sameer Soni</keyword>, Yudhishtar Urs, Dipannita Sharma Atwal, and many more. Does that mean unlike other OTTs, ALTBalaji will deal only with established actors and screenwriters and not give chance to new talents? Nachiket assures the first few series are planned with established ones but the door is open for new talents as well. Regularity One major issue with most OTTs who provide original contents is keeping with the pace. If the first series comes this month, the second season may appear after two months. Being in the business for more than decades, Kapoor’s ALTBalaji will have new series coming up every 15 days. <div type="image" title="ALTBalaji Logo" msid="58497517" hostid="261"></div>

 Pricing The introductory plan starts at Rs 300 for 12 months and Rs 100 for three months. However the normal plan will be Rs 90/month. Also the plan is to get the viewers watch first three episodes of all shows for free. We have seen tons of start ups focussing on app based OTT have been doing good business in India. But then most of the other OTTs are mostly in the area where TV shows are re-ran to keep the regular viewer updated in case he missed out on an episode. However ALTBalaji seems quite different.

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