iWorld
Loco launches ‘Loco Originals’ with ‘Charcha with Thugwa’ season 3
Mumbai: Live game streaming platform Loco is strengthening its footprint with the launch of Loco Originals. The platform announced season 3 of the popular chat show ‘Charcha With Thugwa’, hosted by a popular streamer, 8Bit Thug (Animesh Agarwal).
The previous seasons of ‘Charcha With Thugwa’ were aired on Thug’s official YouTube channel showcasing a lineup of gamers who shared their experiences in the esports world. The latest season will be exclusively available on the Loco app with fresh episodes dropping every Saturday, starting 17 July.
In this season, Thug will be seen indulging in candid conversations with top-of-the-line gamers and streamers like Mortal, Jonathan, Dynamo, and many more, over the eight episodes. Gillette has chosen to be the brand partner for Season 3 recognizing the synergies between the target audiences of both brands.
“With game streaming and esports, we are witnessing the rise of a completely new category in entertainment and at Loco, we are excited to serve this ecosystem,” Loco founders Anirudh Pandita and Ashwin Suresh said in a joint statement. “While we are just getting started on our library for Loco Originals, our goal remains to engage gamers and viewers on the platform, and Charcha With Thugwa – Season 3 aligns with that objective seamlessly. With more exciting content in store for gamers, we are hopeful to see a surge in users on the platform.”
“Having started ‘Charcha With Thugwa’ in 2019, I have had the chance to interact with some of India’s featured gaming icons and it has truly been an enriching experience for me,” 8Bit Thug said. “Leveraging this first of its kind, gaming talk show, we were able to tap into the potential fan base of gamers and gain momentum for this rapidly scaling industry in India. I am super excited to partner with Loco for this season as it will help us target relevant audiences, present on the platform. I am looking forward to the latest season presented by Gillette, which has a bigger lineup of gamers and more insightful conversations into our universe of gaming.”
iWorld
Applause Entertainment partners with Story TV for premium microdramas
Collaboration to produce and adapt content for mobile-first audiences starting 2026.
MUMBAI: Applause Entertainment just shrunk the drama screen because when stories fit in your pocket, even the biggest plots feel like a quick binge. Applause Entertainment, the Aditya Birla Group-backed content powerhouse behind hits like Black Warrant, The Hunt, Criminal Justice and Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story, has entered an exclusive partnership with Story TV, India’s leading microdrama platform, to create a slate of premium short-form series for mobile-first viewers.
Under the agreement, the two companies will co-produce new-age microdramas across multiple genres. Story TV will also acquire rights to Applause’s romantic-thriller series Hello Mini and adapt it into a vertical microdrama format.
Story TV, which launched in July 2025, has quickly become a dominant player in the microdrama space with a library exceeding 1000 titles in romance, thriller, action and family drama across Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. The platform ranks as the second most downloaded entertainment app worldwide, according to Sensor Tower data.
Story TV founder and CEO Saurabh Pandey said, “As an early entrant into microdramas in India we are at the forefront of blending storytelling and technology to expand this emerging format into mainstream territory. Our partnership with Applause Entertainment will further expand the audience of microdramas with a focus on premium storytelling that is yet to be seen in the Indian entertainment industry.”
Applause Entertainment chief business officer Prasoon Garg added, “At Applause, our focus has always been on building strong stories across formats. As newer storytelling formats like microdramas gain momentum, we see value in engaging with them through meaningful collaborations. Our unique partnership with Story TV enables us to explore this emerging space alongside a platform that has demonstrated strong understanding of the format and its audiences.”
The tie-up positions both companies to capitalise on the rapid rise of bite-sized, vertical content tailored for smartphone consumption, where attention spans are short and global reach is instant.
In a screen-sized world where stories now race against the scroll, Applause and Story TV aren’t just making microdramas, they’re proving that the smallest screen can still deliver the biggest emotional punch, one vertical episode at a time.
