iWorld
Crunchyroll to launch on Amazon channels in India
MUMBAI: Anime lovers in India are in for a treat. Crunchyroll, the anime OTT from Sony Pictures is being readied for a launch on Amazon channels in India and in many countries in south east Asia.
Speaking at an investor analyst call on 30 June, Sony Pictures chairman & CEO Tony Vinciquerra announced that the rollout of Crunchyroll on Amazon is going to happen in a couple of months.
“We have more that 13 million subscribers,” he said. “Crunchyroll is going to be our prime driver for us. We have not really pushed the service in Asia. We are now building up the inventory for our launch. The Amazon channels deal has done very well for us in the US and we are confident it will do as well in south east Asia and India as well.”
AnimeTimes, another service, from Japanese firm Avex Pictures is already available on Amazon channels in India.
iWorld
Banijay Asia’s The 50 tops OTT charts with 8.1 million JioHotstar views
Reality competition becomes most watched show on JioHotstar in debut week.
MUMBAI: Fifty contestants walked into a palace, but millions of viewers showed up for the drama. Reality competition The 50, produced by Banijay Asia, has emerged as the most watched show on JioHotstar, clocking 8.1 million views in its debut week. The figure, reported by Ormax Media, places the show at the top of the OTT viewership charts and marks a strong opening for the digital reality format.
Adapted from a popular French format, The 50 brings together 50 personalities from television, digital platforms, music and reality shows inside a grand palace setting. Over the course of a 50 day competition, participants form alliances, compete in unpredictable tasks and navigate eliminations as the field steadily narrows.
Guiding the game is a mysterious figure known as The Lion, an unseen game master whose voice introduces twists, challenges and strategic turns throughout the show, adding an extra layer of suspense to the contest.
What distinguishes The 50 from typical reality competitions is its audience driven prize structure. Instead of the winner taking home the final reward, the prize is awarded to one of the winner’s registered followers through the show’s dedicated app. The mechanism effectively turns viewers into participants, allowing fans to have a direct stake in the outcome.
The contestant lineup features a mix of television actors, reality stars and digital creators, including Karan Patel, Urvashi Dholakia, Divya Agarwal, Mr Faisu and Dushyant Kukreja, each bringing their own fan following to the show.
With its blend of celebrity personalities, strategic gameplay and interactive viewer participation, The 50 has quickly carved out a strong foothold in India’s digital entertainment landscape. Its 8.1 million views in the opening week underline the growing appetite for large scale reality formats designed specifically for OTT audiences.
