iWorld
Ditto TV partners with Hull to power customer engagement
MUMBAI: Ditto TV, a distribution platform from Zee New Media, the digital arm of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL) has announced its partnership with the unified customer engagement platform, Hull to strengthen its customer engagement activities.
The partnership with Hull will provide unified identity management, cross-domain single sign-on, social login and engagement mechanics across their next-generation iOS, Android and Web applications users. These features will be available to Ditto TV’s over one million registered customer base and a potential audience of 700 million plus.
On this development, Ditto TV business head Manoj Padmanabhan said, “We chose Hull because they were ahead of the competition with their ability to offer a single interface to all customer interaction across every device, their quick turnaround, high availability, and rich feature set.”
Hull was competing against many different solution providers including in-house development and bagged the partnership thanks to its affordable price, scalability, flexibility and rich feature set, making it the best choice to quickly build a large-scale unified user experience across all of Ditto TV’s platforms.
“We are pleased to have Zee Entertainment utilizing our Hull connected consumer platform as a central hub that gathers all data into a unified user profile and enables multi-channel communication,” commented Hull president & CEO Stefan Koenig.
iWorld
WhatsApp tests ‘WhatsApp Plus’ paid subscription tier
€2.49 plan adds customisation tools, messaging and calls remain free.
MUMBAI: Your chats may soon get a glow-up at a small monthly price. WhatsApp is testing a new paid subscription tier called ‘WhatsApp Plus’, signalling a shift towards premium personalisation features while keeping its core services free. The feature is currently being rolled out to a limited set of Android beta users, with early reports from WABetaInfo indicating a price of €2.49 per month (approximately Rs 274). Meta has confirmed the test, stating that it is designed for users who want more control over how they customise and organise their app experience.
Importantly, the subscription remains optional. Core functionalities including messaging, voice calls and community features will continue to be available free of charge, ensuring that the platform’s primary use case remains unchanged.
Instead, WhatsApp Plus focuses on aesthetic and organisational upgrades. These include exclusive sticker packs, new themes, custom app icons and personalised notification tones. On the functional side, subscribers may be able to pin up to 20 chats significantly higher than the current limit of three along with access to custom chat lists and enhanced categorisation tools.
Industry observers suggest the offering is largely cosmetic. Social media consultant Matt Navarra noted that the features lean more towards visual and usability enhancements rather than altering the app’s core functionality.
While global pricing has not been finalised, the subscription is expected to remain a low-cost monthly plan, with reports indicating a possible one-month free trial for eligible users. The feature is still in beta, meaning the final set of offerings could evolve before a broader rollout. Support for iOS users is also anticipated in the coming weeks.
The move mirrors a broader trend in the social and messaging ecosystem, where platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram have introduced similar subscription layers adding premium features without placing core services behind a paywall.
For WhatsApp, the strategy appears clear, keep the conversation free, but charge for a little extra flair around it.
