iWorld
‘What’s Wrogn With Virat?’ asks exclusive video on hotstar!
MUMBAI: Using exclusive content to drive interest, engagement and conversations amongst the digitally active, premium young audiences on mobile, India’s largest digital content platform, hotstar, has now added an exclusive video with Indian cricket superstar Virat Kohli and cricket lovers.
The video is now live and available exclusively to the users of hotstar, which has raced to over 25 million downloads within just over 7 months of its launch.
Cheekily entitled What’s Wrogn With Virat?, the video offers several never-seen-before, humorous and heartwarming takes on India’s batting sensation and heartthrob of the nation, Virat Kohli. It begins with young cricket fans sharing their opinions on a variety of topics like what they feel is wrong with Virat, their take on his aggressive play on the field, Virat as a captain, who between Dhoni and Virat is the better captain, the position Virat should bat on, the strategy the Indian team should adopt, and more. Even as the youngsters freely speak their minds, they are blissfully unaware that Virat himself is watching them from the adjacent room, and reacting to each comment as only he can. Emotions hit the roof when, to the surprise and shock of the young cricket fans, Virat suddenly appears in front of them while they are in mid-sentence!
The youngsters’ candid opinions and Virat’s reactions to them, and then the speakers’ own reactions when Virat walks on to the set, are what the video builds up to. The best part, of course, is the answer to the question in everyone’s mind: How will Virat react to their feedback, and how he will interact with them.
To know, watch What’s Wrogn With Virat, live now, exclusively on hotstar, the fastest grown digital content platform with a truly rich and compelling content library of over 50,000 hours from sports, TV shows, movies, events and more in seven languages
hotstar is the destination of choice for marketers and brand custodians seeking to reach its large and premium, digitally enabled and active young audiences across India. Film producers are increasingly looking at hotstar as a preferred choice for digital-first promotional content premieres for the young, upwardly mobile and discerning audiences of hotstar.
iWorld
Anirudh Ravichander and Universal Music India join forces to take South India’s sound to the world
The composer behind 13 billion streams launches Albuquerque Records with UMI as its exclusive global partner
MUMBAI: Universal Music India has struck an exclusive partnership with Albuquerque Records, the freshly minted independent label of singer-composer Anirudh Ravichander, in a deal that bets big on South India’s booming pop and hip-hop scene going global.
The arrangement, announced on 17 March, will see Universal Music India handle future pop and hip-hop releases by Anirudh himself, as well as artists signed to the new label. A first release is already in the pipeline for April, featuring Anirudh.
The numbers behind the man are hard to ignore. Debuting in 2012 with the viral sensation “Why This Kolaveri Di”, Anirudh has since clocked over 13 billion audio streams across more than 770 tracks, cementing his position as the No.1 South Indian artist on Spotify by total streams. His fingerprints are all over some of the Tamil film industry’s biggest musical moments, from Hukum and Vaathi Coming to Arabic Kuthu and the A23 Theme.
But Albuquerque Records is a different beast. Built for the non-film space, it is designed to nurture independent talent and champion the next wave of Indian pop voices. “Universal Music India’s leadership in pop and hip-hop made them the natural partner,” said Anirudh. “I’m excited to take independent voices to audiences around the world.”
Universal Music India’s chairman and CEO Devraj Sanyal was equally effusive. “Anirudh represents the future of Indian music, bold, original, and with enormous potential,” he said. “Identifying transformative talent is our superpower, and this partnership reflects that belief.”
Sanujeet Bhujabal, managing director of Universal Music India, framed the deal as more than a distribution play. “Albuquerque Records represents Anirudh’s bold artistic vision in the world of pop and hip-hop,” he said. “True to his legacy of innovation, this partnership is set to establish yet another landmark creative space, this time for the emerging world of iPop and beyond.”
For Universal Music India, the deal deepens a long-running push into South India’s four key language markets: Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu. The label already has regional imprints, film partnerships with Maddock Films and Excel Entertainment, and a growing non-film roster. Landing Anirudh, arguably the south’s most bankable music brand, is a statement of intent. South Indian music has the streams. Now it is coming for the world.
