iWorld
Voot partners Google to launch VoD PWA
MUMBAI: Viacom18’s ad-supported OTT service Voot has turned its mobile website into a Progressive Web App (PWA) using features such as add to homescreen and a service worker. PWA allows reliable, fast, and engaging experience for users on mobile web.
Viacom18 Digital Ventures COO Gaurav Gandhi commented, “In this business both content and technology have equal equity in realizing the potential of our consumer proposition. While content is our domain expertise, to push the envelope in terms of technology, we continuously work with partners from around the world. We are delighted to work closely with Google to launch Voot on the PWA platform. This launch significantly enhances the experience for all Voot users on mobile browsers and we believe this is a big step where users can have an equally rich experience of our service without downloading the app.”
Voot is available as both a native app and a mobile web app. It offers close to 35000 hours of premium content that includes not only exclusive shows from theViacom18 network channels like Colors and MTV, but also original series created for Voot. It is also the largest online destination for kid’s content under its brand Voot Kids.
Voot launched its new UI first on mobile web, ahead of desktop web and native app. Within days of launch, the video watch time on mobile web is jumped over 39 per cent and is comparable to that of native apps. The improvements also had a significant positive impact on reducing load times, reducing abandonments, and much better conversions.
“We have moved the needle very significantly when it comes to user experience on the Mobile Web by adopting PWA,” said Viacom18 Digital Venture product and technology head Rajneel Kumar. Kumar further added, “All the time and effort we’ve spent on technology and UI changes as well as optimizations seem to be showing very positive results. We are going to continue to refine this further and we are confident that we will continue to see significant consumer lift.”
“We are delighted with the Voot implementation of a Progressive Web App. PWAs are well suited for India, where the mobile web allows publishers to reach a large audience across a highly diverse set of devices and bandwidth. The early numbers on performance are very encouraging, and demonstrate the potential of mobile web media distribution, ” said Google product manager John Pallett.
Voot PWA includes offline page caching functionality, fast loading, responsive interface and push notifications. The ‘Add to Home Screen’ feature of PWA allows the user to launch the page from their home screen like a native app and a service worker decreases load times. Voot is an early adopter of this technology and it is only a matter of time before PWAs become the new standard for web interactions, just as responsive design has become the norm rather than an exception.
While 4G services have recently launched, there are many users who access the Internet via 2G and 3G networks, with slow and sometimes expensive data transfer rates. To reduce the data transfer, VOOT has optimized its images specifically for mobile. The site now dynamically serves either JPEG or WebP images depending upon browser capabilities that minimize image data size, resulting into seamless viewing experience.
These optimizations resulted in a 63 per cent reduction in first-view page load data transfer and an 86 per cent reduction in data transfer for returning visitors. Page loads became five times faster for first-time visitors, and almost seven times faster for returning users.
iWorld
JioHotstar and OpenAI partner to bring ChatGPT-powered personalised content to 500m Indian viewers
Fireside chat at AI Impact Summit 2026 highlights AI-driven content discovery and personalised storytelling
DELHI: At the AI Impact Summit 2026, a defining conversation unfolded between Uday Shankar, vice-chairman, JioStar, and Sam Altman, ceo and co-founder, OpenAI, spotlighting how AI is transforming creation, distribution and consumption of content.
The discussion coincided with Jiostar’s landmark announcement: a partnership between JioHotstar and OpenAI that will embed ChatGPT-powered conversational search and discovery into the platform. The move aims to deliver seamless, multilingual, deeply personalised experiences for India’s 500 million-plus viewers, fundamentally redefining how content is discovered and consumed.
“There’s a lot of noise about content overload. We see a different reality. In a country as diverse as India, there isn’t enough content that truly reflects its cultural and regional nuance. That’s the opportunity,” said Shankar. “Across content, commerce and consumer experience, this partnership lets us rethink the ecosystem. Technology now allows storytelling to move from static and broad to dynamic and deeply personalised, aligned to the unique tastes of every consumer. The future isn’t more content. It’s more relevant content.”
Altman added perspective on India’s AI momentum: “What feels different here is the energy. There is a clear sense of going all in on AI, not just as individual companies, but as a country. Safety has to be taken seriously. Ensuring that benefits are widely distributed has to be taken seriously. But above all, the focus is on creating real value for companies and for people through the services we build. That is the balance driving this moment.”
The partnership signals a shared commitment to responsibly scale AI-powered experiences that deliver tangible business value while making a meaningful impact on consumers. By combining India-specific content nuance with OpenAI’s generative intelligence, Jiostar is betting on a future where discovery, engagement and relevance replace sheer volume—setting the stage for a new era in personalised entertainment.
