<ul><li>It has chosen to remain a premium player that provides original content.</li><li>Almost 40% of <keyword id="1723835" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hoichoi" source="Orion">hoichoi</keyword>’s revenues come from international subscriptions – US, UK, Australia, Canada, Middle East and Bangladesh are its key overseas markets.</li><li>It’s expanding its distribution globally with tie-ups with telecom players in Bahrain, Bangladesh and more.</li><li>The group’s television background helped them maintain the timelines and stick to budgets, which helped contain creative costs.</li></ul>When Shree Venkatesh Films (SVF), a West Bengal-based film and TV production company, wanted to get into OTT in 2017 – they wanted to start small – launching five original shows across three genres under the brand name hoichoi, which means excitement. Those were early days for vernacular shows – until then Indian original series across languages mostly premiered on YouTube and were short-form content. This was just before the launch of Netflix’s Sacred Games and Amazon Prime’s Inside Edge. Much like these shows, hoichoi’s bets took off too. <div type="image" title="WhatsApp Image 2022-10-03 at 6.08.30 PM." height="900" width="1200" msid="94629590" hostid="261" sizebytes="34982" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Soumya Mukherjee, chief operating officer of Hoichoi&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> “We saw an initial uptick for our originals. Four out of the five shows we launched created a lot of buzz,” Soumya Mukherjee, chief operating officer of hoichoi told Business Insider India. Ever since, there has been no stopping this regional OTT platform, which now caters to over 250 million Bengalis worldwide. The platform claims to be one of its kind with over 100 originals in a single language and more than 2,000 hours of content across web series, movies, shorts, docu-series and more. Moreover, it claims to have turned profitable within five years of its launch in spite of a large number of in-house productions of original films and shows. The OTT player claims that its direct subscriptions grew 50%, with a 20% month-on-month increase in watch time, in the post-lockdown period. “Along with this, hoichoi continues to have one of the highest refresh rates in India for a single language, with close to 5-7 titles, which includes original shows, world premiere movies and Hindi-dubbed originals releasing every month,” the company said. Turu love, Tansener Tanpura, Karagar and Kaiser are some of its top-rated shows on IMDB. Premium-only The secret, Mukherjee says, lies in its pricing strategy. “From the start, we positioned ourselves as a premium product with around ₹1,000 per annum. From day 1, we knew that content had to be protected and had never looked to diversify. We want to tell great stories with a good mix of movies and shows,” he said. In the US, it charges around $10 per month - on par with what OTT giant Netflix charges in the market. The reason is the love for content in the mother tongue, Bengali, which is the second most-spoken Indian language, as per Mukherjee. “Bengalis are deeply rooted to their culture wherever they are,” he said. In fact, almost 40% of hoichoi’s revenues come from international subscriptions, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, Middle East and Bangladesh. The OTT claims that customer stickiness is high and almost 70-75% of their subscribers renew subscriptions annually. It premiers a new movie every month and that aids its renewals, it claims. “While our monthly active users have increased by 40%, our international user base has also risen by 30%. Not only do these numbers make us ecstatic, but also motivate us to do even better, as we step into our sixth year,” said Vishnu Mohta, co-founder of hoichoi. Content Refresh: 25 new shows announced Hoichoi also claims to go the extra mile with its user experience. “To help some of our elderly subscribers, we send our people to visit personally and demonstrate as and when needed,” says Mukherjee. As India’s first vernacular OTT enters its sixth year, it announced 25 new shows – four from Bangladesh and 21 from India – with top creators and across genres. For its latest series, it also roped in national award-winning creator Srijit Mukherji, who is creating a crime detective show Feluda. Mukherjee attributes hoichoi’s success to Bengal’s wide talent pool of writers, producers, actors, technicians and directors, in addition to its legacy. “We imbibed the discipline of TV and the quality of films into the OTT venture,” he explains. The group’s presence in television helped them maintain the timelines and stick to budgets, which helped contain creative costs. Their targeted marketing also helped contain marketing costs to 20% of the overall revenue — which Mukherjee claims is one of the lowest in the industry. Over the years, hoichoi launched a lot of new faces, but is also now focusing on bringing in bigger actors into its fold. “Naturally production costs will increase but in terms of revenue growth we are doing ok,” he says. Distribution strategy Last year, the platform became a part of Prime Channels – where multiple OTTs can be subscribed to. While it is seeing traction for its Hindi-dubbed library on Prime Channels as well as on MX Player, it wants to remain rooted in Bengali. Its best-performing show on both these platforms was Charitraheen. It has also partnered with Jio, Airtel XStream, Tata Play and Dish TV and is looking at deep integration within and outside India as well. It has tied up with Bangladeshi telecom players Grameenphone, Robi and Banglalink and also Bahrain-based telco Batelco. Also, the player is not too worried about password sharing, which is the blight of its business. “We do not see too many cases of password sharing. We only offer two simultaneous streaming across five devices,” Mukherjee says. SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/auto/news/auto-sales-remain-buoyant-in-september-with-reports-of-a-good-festive-season-ahead/articleshow/94622721.cms">Auto sales remain buoyant in September with reports of a good festive season ahead</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/electronics-mart-india-ipo-set-to-open-on-oct-4-commands-grey-market-premium-of-30/share/articleshow/94620046.cms">Electronics Mart India IPO set to open on Oct 4; commands grey market premium of ₹30/share</a>

This pioneering regional OTT has turned profitable in 5 years – here’s how

Amid the ongoing impasse over <keyword id="22586111" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="technicians-body" source="Orion">technicians' body</keyword> refusal to work under a particular director for a project, no shooting took place on Monday in any film studio in Kolkata and surrounding areas as directors of <keyword id="117312" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bengali-film-industry" source="Orion">Bengali film industry</keyword> decided to go for an indefinite <keyword id="66308" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="cease-work" source="Orion">cease work</keyword> from July 29 in solidarity with the young filmmaker. "There has been no shooting in all the 11 studios of any sort since this morning," a spokesperson of the <keyword id="22586110" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Directors-Guild" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Directors' Guild" meta.hostid="83" meta.entityid="Directors' Guild">Directors' Guild</keyword> said. The technicians' body is also slated to meet later on Monday on their boycott. While producers also came forward in support of directors' demand. Directors Association of Eastern India in a statement on Sunday night said: "In deference to the wishes and sentiments of majority of directors, the association has decided to go for indefinite cease work on shooting floors from Monday (July 29) till the problem faced by directors are addressed in an amicable and proper manner." In a facebook post titled #directorsinsolidarity, prominent filmmakers including Aparna Sen, Kaushik Ganguly, Srijit Mukherjee, Arindam Sil, Indrasis Acharya, Indradip Dasgupta, Kamaleswar Mukherjee, Atanu Ghosh and others said despite the Directors Guild allowing Rahool Mukherjee to helm the shooting of the untitled film (by SVF), the first-day shoot could not take place on July 27 at a city studio as the technicians stayed away. "This was extremely humiliating for directors and actors present at the shooting floor. As demanded by many directors after this development we suggest until the technicians under the federation agree to take part in the shoot accepting Rahool Mukherjee as director, till then we will be forced to go for non-cooperation," the statement said. The directors further asserted federation cannot impose its will in an arbitrary manner without seeking any acceptable solution. "The way technicians of the federation have been forced to non-cooperate with Rahool Mukherjee is ominous for the entertainment industry and insulting for every single director, the statement said. Arindam Sil said: "The ceasework will be only applicable for <keyword id="20256794" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bengali-film" source="keywords">Bengali film</keyword>, serial and web series shoots." Voicing apprehension that the boycott of the director by technicians and protests by other directors may snowball into a major crisis affecting shoots of films, serials, web series in Bengali film industry, West Bengal Motion Pictures Artists Forum president and veteran actor Ranjit Mallick and secretary Santilal Mukherjee on Sunday requested all sides to sit for talks immediately and thrash out the differences. "Any disruption of shooting will affect actors, directors, technicians, producers - every stakeholder in the industry - which will do no good... We therefore call upon every side to sit for talks for the interest of industry and iron out differences. If required the artist's forum can mediate to resolve the issue. Let's not allow the situation to snowball into a major crisis that will only affect everyone in the industry as well as the audiences," the forum earlier said. The forum is the apex body of actors in the entertainment industry in Bengal. On July 27, despite the clean chit given to filmmaker Rahool Mukherjee by the Directors' Guild allowing him to work as creative producer in an upcoming film, no technician turned up at a Kolkata studio on the first day of shooting. Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI) president Swarup Biswas said Mukherjee was being debarred from directing films for three months for violating norms by visiting Bangladesh for shooting another movie without intimation to the federation and taking the help of technicians in Dhaka. Biswas told reporters that while it had been amicably decided earlier that Rahool Mukherjee would be the creative producer of the film to be shot from July 27, the call sheet given to them for the shoot still referred to Rahool Mukherjee as the director and he was seen taking every initiative during the shoot. "This was seen as violating the spirit of our agreement and we technicians don't want to work under the instruction of Mukherjee who had not taken any technician from Kolkata to complete 10 days of shooting of an OTT film 'Lohu' in Bangladesh earlier this year," Biswas said. "Mukherjee himself had admitted his mistake at the first meeting with the federation and guild earlier in July but now retracting." The untitled film produced by SVF mired in uncertainty starred Prosenjit Chatterjee, Anirban Bhattacharya and Priyanka Sarkar. SVF which was behind the project had stated that Soumik Haldar would now direct the film while Rahool Mukherjee would be the creative producer. However, most directors in solidarity with Rahool Mukherjee now demanded that he should not be replaced.

Film shooting stops in Kolkata studios as Bengali film industry calls for cease work

(Eds: Updated with latest development) Kolkata, Jun 10 () Resolving their differences over the issue of COVID-19 medical insurance, representatives of actors, technicians, producers of Bengali TV soaps and channel heads on Wednesday arrived at a consensus to start serial shootings from June 11, West Bengal minister Aroop Biswas, who took the initiative in resolving the impasse, told reporters after a meeting that there were no differences among the stakeholders and shooting will resume after 85 days in various studios from Thursday morning. Biswas is the state's PWD, youth affairs and sports minister, but he also looks after the entertainment industry. The shooting was supposed to start from Wednesday but it did not. Talks among the stake holders on Tuesday night ended in a deadlock over the issue of Rs 25 lakh COVID-19 medical insurance for every artiste to be effective from the first day of shooting. Representatives from the West Bengal Motion Pictures Artists' Forum, West Bengal TV Producers, the Federation of Cine Technicians &amp; Workers of Eastern India and different channels were present at the meeting where a standard operating procedure (SOP) was signed by the participants after a two-hour long discussion. "We have got definite assurance from the other side that processing of papers is on. And every artist participating in the shooting will be covered from the first day," Artists Forum General Secretary Arindam Ganguly said. The minister said, "There can be differences among members of a family. But that is temporary. We all have to work together in the interest of everyone in the entertainment industry and for the audience." He said the SOP covered all aspects. A spokesman of the Forum had earlier alleged that channel owners and producers could not assure the artists about giving signed document of the medical insurance premium from the first day of shooting. According to the signed SOP, issued after Wednesday's meeting, said channels and producers will pay 50 per cent and 40 per cent respectively of the insurance fee, and the rest 10 per cent will be paid by the Forum. A spokesman of West Bengal TV Producers expressed happiness over the "positive development." "We will start shooting from tomorrow morning and call times have already been allotted to the artistes," he said. Mahendra Soni, Co-Founder and Director of SVF Entertainment, said "We welcome the developments. Shooting will resume now keeping in mind all the safety protocols." There were other mutually agreed decisions like not having artists under 10 years of age and wearing masks on the floor except during shoots and securing written undertaking from actors above 65 years. The state government issued a notification on May 30, allowing shootings of serials, web series, and feature films from June 1 with the gathering of a maximum of 35 people. However, filming of reality shows is still not permitted. SUS NN NN

Impasse over COVID-19 insurance resolved; shooting of Bengali TV serials to start from Thursday

Kolkata, June 10 () As talks between representatives of West Bengal Motion Pictures Artists' Forum and producers of TV soaps and channel heads failed to resolve the issue of COVID-19 medical insurance for artists, shooting of Bengali TV serials did not start on Wednesday. The talks on Tuesday night ended in a deadlock over the issue of Rs 25 lakh COVID-19 medical insurance for every artist to be effective from the first day of shooting. A spokesman of the forum said the channel owners and producers could not give assurance about giving signed document of the medical insurance premium from the first day of shooting and hence "the forum is not in a position to advise its members to report at the shooting floor from tomorrow (Wednesday) itself." "We had asked when the insurance premium papers will be handed over to each artist, but the channel representatives and producers promised it will be done at the earliest. In the present COVID-19 situation, how can we ask members to start shooting immediately if these things are not finalised. What will happen if an artist falls sick on the first day and is diagnosed as corona positive," the spokesman said. At the earlier meeting among the Artists' Forum, representatives of production houses and channels on June 4 and 7, it was mutually agreed upon that channels will pay 50 per cent of the insurance fee, producers will pay 40 per cent and the rest 10 per cent will be paid by the forum. However, the forum alleged on Tuesday that no signed document was ready on the part of producers and channels in this regard. West Bengal TV Producers said in a statement late Tuesday evening that despite total cooperation on the part of channels, producers and the federation of technicians, "the forum intentionally raised objection on certain issues which made it difficult on our part to resume shoots from tomorrow (Wednesday)." "In such situations, we have decided not to start shoot till coronavirus situation remains in the country," the statement said. Mahendra Soni, Co-Founder and Director of SVF Entertainment said, "We producers were well prepared to resume shooting keeping in mind all the safety protocols proposed and agreed in joint meetings between all the stakeholders but suddenly Artist Forum asked us to fulfil something that was not in our control. I hope good sense prevails soon and we find an amicable way to resolve the situation." There were other decisions like not having child artists and wearing masks on the floor except during shoots which were mutually agreed upon at the earlier meeting. The state government issued a notification on May 30, allowing shootings of serials, web series, and feature films from June 1 with the gathering of a maximum of 35 people. However, filming of reality shows is still not permitted. On June 4 West Bengal Minister Arup Biswas had said that shooting of Bengali television serials will start from June 10 without child artistes and putting in place all measures to prevent coronavirus infection. SUS RG RG

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This pioneering regional OTT has turned profitable in 5 years – here’s how

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Film shooting stops in Kolkata studios as Bengali film industry calls for cease work

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Impasse over COVID-19 insurance resolved; shooting of Bengali TV serials to start from Thursday

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No shooting of Bengali TV serials, as talks fail over COVID-19 medical insurance

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hoichoi adds 13 million cumulative subscribers in 3 years with 40% of its direct revenue coming from International users

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