Indians like all internet users around the world are now demanding interactivity in the TV medium along with the convenience to watch what they want and when they want it. And keeping along with such demands, web TV has emerged in a huge way in the sub continent. Whether it is the Indian or US elections or the massively popular IPL, Indians are flocking to the web to watch their favorite TV content. Let’s take a look at nautanki.tv, an Online Video distribution platform in India.
The CEO sounds a contended man as he reports that more than 5 million people from all over the globe saw the Indian election broadcast online. “Nautanki tied up with Facebook and Zee News to provide live feed about Indian elections results on both online portals,” he says.
A whopping 8000+ comments were recorded and each individual watched 30+ minutes of content. And nautanki.tv seems to gain this momentum by adding more broadcasters to its already impressive arsenal of serving 38 million unique videos to 6 million user base! Such results clearly show the importance of interactivity, convenience and communities in sourcing any kind of information. The consumers are no longer a passive audience and it’s all about engaging them in a rich personal medium.
Entertainment based social networking: The magic combo?
Today, Indyarocks.com announced the launch of 16 free premium video Channels in partnership with nautanki.tv which will give the 3 million strong user base of Indyarocks free online access to premium video content from Youth Channels (MTV, Channel [V], FTV), News Channels (TimesNow, Zee News), General Entertainment channels (Colors, Star), Movie Based channels (Zoom, Eros, Bollywood Hungama, Lehren) and Bhangra channel! Now, that’s a treat for TV lovers. The combination of social community platforms with content distribution is bringing the entertainment hungry Indian youth together, and thus strengthening the future of Web TV. Indyarocks plans to increase the number of online video channels to 25 by December.
The youngistan effect?
Such Web TV platforms are very popular amongst the youth, with youngsters depending on the internet to watch IPL matches and reality shows. The popular youth show Roadies seems to be cashing in on this popularity. It started MTV Roadies Battleground, which enables users to post videos online to get direct entry into final interviews for the show. The fact that MTV is using TV to advertise an online concept speaks volume about the importance of online content distribution.
YouTube India is currently looking at some Live TV platforms which would help them close the gap between TV and online broadcasting systems. Though the online medium might not be running rich with money, it certainly is turning out to be an excellent medium.
Corollary
I am reminded of the innovative Internet @ TV service available in various models like the Samsung LED 6000, 7000 and 8000 series. Samsung recently introduced Twitter to the platform which has seen a huge rise in feedback of movies and TV series’ during airtimes. Such widget TVs are again closing the gap between online and TV medium by a different route to integration.
The medium in which the content will be delivered is good. Needs improvement but the infrastructure is in place.
What concerns me the most is the content. What should be done with the content? Most of the content we see on TV is a rip-off of a foreign sitcom or a realty show.
Then you have the regular dose of saas-bahu serials. Sure, there is audience for these. But, what about the content that attracts the family?
No, not the cricket or the IPL. Just general content, which is not breaking (broken) news. The good old days of Ramayan and MahaBharat, which hooked people, are missing.
The whole market is segmented with no clear leader. More than anything else this is the biggest improvement for Indian TV in general. IPTV’s success rides on it.
Great post.
@sriram
See, the content is the headache of the TV people. As long as they keep churning out popular stuff, web TV will keep moving on.
Be it saas bahu, or be it roadies
Good idea of WebTV it will take some time to get popular.