iWorld
97% of internet users consumed entertainment content in April
KOLKATA: The Covid2019 pandemic induced lockdown has made people take refuge in the virtual world more. Total time spent on the internet jumped immediately in April by 11 per cent reaching to1466 billion minutes. While all segments of the online ecosystem have witnessed a spike in consumption, entertainment was definitely not behind given the fewer options of social life.
According to a report from Comscore, 97 per cent of internet audience consumed entertainment content in April. Entertainment sites witnessed surge in engagement as total viewing minutes touched 329 billion minutes in April, up by 15 per cent compared to March.
The market leader YouTube had the most unique visitors followed by MX Player and Hotstar. Among the video-on-demand platforms, Hotstar had the highest viewing minutes, 121 billion minutes. MX Player achieved 118 billion minutes. International OTT players Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Prime Video.com witnessed a high surge of 26 per cent, 21 per cent and 38 per cent respectively.
Among other segments, news has seen a huge jump, going 15 per cent up from March. While Times Internet attracted the highest unique visitors among multi-platform new entities, Dailyhunt attracted the same among news apps. Moreover, India leads worldwide news on mobile.
As online learning has seen adoption during the lockdown, the education segment saw 33 per cent growth in April. Younger audience, especially 15-24 age group has driven the growth. Udemy has acquired the place of top education app. While health has also seen a good spike, the official Covid2019 tracker Arogya Setu has seen significant adoption among health-conscious audiences.
iWorld
Epic Company launches unified Epic Studio for films and OTT
Vivek Krishnani to head films business; Samar Khan leads OTT & Television.
MUMBAI: Epic just merged its creative superheroes under one cape because when films and OTT need to fight for attention together, you don’t keep them in separate universes. The Epic Company has launched Epic Studio, a next-generation creative and production powerhouse that unites Juggernaut Productions and Movieverse Studio under a single banner. The move creates a streamlined, scalable platform for premium storytelling across theatrical films, OTT originals, television, digital-first formats and branded content.
Vivek Krishnani has been appointed chief executive officer, Epic Studio (Films), overseeing the theatrical and film business with a focus on culturally resonant narratives across Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati and Malayalam cinema. Samar Khan continues as chief executive officer, Epic Studio (OTT & Television) and retains his role as chief content officer for Docubay and Epic On.
The Epic Company managing director Aditya Pittie said, “Epic Studio brings together our entire creative ecosystem under one unified studio vision. This is not just an integration of verticals, but the creation of a collaborative environment where writers, filmmakers, creators, and brand partners can seamlessly develop and scale stories across formats and screens.”
Vivek Krishnani added, “We are building an audience-focused mainstream film studio committed to delivering fresh, engaging, and innovative stories for both theatrical and streaming platforms.”
Samar Khan commented, “This alignment allows us to approach storytelling with a unified studio mindset. We are building IP under one creative umbrella, with scale and longevity in mind from inception.”
The unified structure eliminates silos, enabling ideas to flow fluidly from concept to screen while adapting to evolving audience behaviour. Epic Studio positions itself as a creator-led ecosystem championing purposeful, resonant storytelling with commercial strength.
In an entertainment landscape where stories now leap between screens faster than plot twists, Epic isn’t just building a studio, it’s crafting a single launchpad where every tale gets the best shot at soaring across every platform.
