iWorld
coto’s Publisher Partner Program enables users to create, distribute & monetize content
Mumbai: coto, a social community platform for women built on the web3 principles of trust, transparency, and participative ownership, has announced its Publisher Partner Programme. It brings together publishers, experts, and creators across genres and platforms to create and monetise their communities.
coto explains that its Publisher Partner Programme aims to reshape the traditional content ecosystem of creation, distribution, and monetisation for publishers. Through the program, publishers can finally turn their current challenges of discovery, monetisation, and value-added services into the advantages of preferred partnerships, community engagement, and multi-monetisation models.
It added that the internet has created a wealth of opportunities for publishers to extend their market reach and cater to a more focused audience. Competing in an era of free content, most publishers walk a tightrope in expanding their network, enhancing revenue generation models, attracting the attention of the right audience, and at the same time, owning the brand-audience relationship. As the world transitions to web3, there remains a need for a multi-network online platform that can provide creators and brands with a wider content ecosystem that offers universal content access and incremental revenue opportunities. This is the gap that coto is looking to fill.
It will help collect the right mix of content, genres, and users on the platform that resonate with the brand’s ethos.
coto co-founder Aparna Acharekar said, “coto’s Publisher Partner Program endeavours to create a responsible social platform where authentic, verified information is available from credible experts. As we transition to the new era of the internet, there is a clear need and potential to create an ecosystem that helps the audience navigate through the vast amount of content online and, at the same time, captures growth opportunities that disrupt the sector. By adopting a community-driven approach, the programme incentivizes engagement, thus creating an ever-evolving diverse model of monetization. It will offer members, brands, publishers, and creators a truly universal experience of accessing content.”
Big FM COO Sunil Kumaran said, “Big FM stays committed to engaging its diverse audience with purpose-driven campaigns that entertain and inform with exceptional content, delivered in an impactful manner. Our thoughts align with coto, a women-only social community platform serving as a channel of change with content by women, for women. We are glad to associate with coto and are coming up with an exhaustive content line-up by our RJs covering multiple topics and industries. This convergence will create a new horizon of infotainment, exclusively on this trailblazing platform—coto.”
Spooler founder & CEO Binoy Joseph shared, “The internet has become the primary source of content and, therefore, has created a need for different revenue generation models for creators and publishers. coto’s publisher partner programme is built on the principles of participation, ownership, and micropreneurship for all women. Its monetisation opportunities such as social, live, and service commerce, advertising revenue, and merchandising give creators and publishers a perfect platform to begin the monetization journey. We look forward to growing our audience with a very distinct and discerning women audience base.”
iWorld
Prime Video announces March 13 premiere for Tamil original Local Times with trailer launch
Seven-episode Tamil comedy follows friends saving a fading local newspaper
MUMBAI: Prime Video has set 13 March as the global premiere date for its Tamil original comedy-drama Local Times, releasing a lively trailer that blends newsroom chaos with warmth and friendship.
The seven-episode series unfolds inside a struggling local weekly newspaper battling shrinking relevance in a fast-shifting digital news ecosystem. Developed by Anekdotes and produced by Fanboy Production, the show is directed by Naveen George Thomas and produced by Jithin Thorai.
The story centres on four friends: Veera, Azhagu, Valli and Muthu, who struggle to keep Namma Seidhi, a once-respected regional newspaper owned by Veera’s grandfather, alive. Short on funds but long on stubborn optimism, the group navigates newsroom mishaps, personal clashes and a determined rival intent on shutting them down.
The ensemble cast features Rishikanth, Abdool Lee, Maurish Dass, Adwitha Arumugam, R. Pandiarajan, Chinni Jayanth, Rini and Nandhitha Sreekumar in key roles.
“Local Times is a rooted and emotionally resonant story,” said Prime Video India director and head of originals Nikhil Madhok. While the series unfolds within a small newsroom, he said its themes of friendship and resilience travel well beyond geography.
Producer Jithin Thorai said the team set out to craft a simple, light-hearted story about ordinary people clinging to something they believe in. The local newspaper setting offers a familiar world, he added, but the heart of the series lies in the bond between the four protagonists.
The show is created by Abbhinav Kastura and Praveen Muthurangan alongside Satwik Gade, Thomas Manuel and Visvaksen P. The screenplay is written by Praveen Muthurangan.
Director Naveen George Thomas, making his directorial debut with the series, said the protagonists are flawed but deeply loyal to one another. The humour emerges from their desperation, he noted, while the emotional pull lies in their refusal to abandon each other.
Local Times will premiere in India and across 240 countries and territories, streaming in Tamil with English subtitles exclusively on Prime Video.
