iWorld
Good stories are language-agnostic: MX Player’s Gautam Talwar
MUMBAI: Move over English, it's time for regional languages now. It's 2020 and streaming services are looking at regional being the trend for the coming era. Most OTT platforms have now tested the waters and have enough data to back up their claims as well.
MX Player’s Queen recently hogged the attention of streamers and the content ecosystem. The Tamil-English web-series’ has been recognised across different languages as it has been dubbed in Hindi, Bengali and Telugu.
MX Player has a “clear regional strategy” where regional is not regional anymore. “We see the uptake of good stories is being language-agnostic,” MX Player chief content officer Gautam Talwar told Indiantelevision.com during a short candid conversation.
Talwar terms it as the biggest web-series till date in Tamil Nadu market and adds that the series has benefitted the platform very well. User numbers have gone up as well and Queen was watched across age groups.
A big show is coming up on the platform in Marathi starring Swapnil Joshi, Satish Rajwade along with two other big shows in the pipeline. There are two shows in Bhojpuri which Talwar believes will get extraordinary viewership if dubbed in other languages. The platform is also looking at a show in Gujarati, one in Telugu, a Punjabi show and a Tamil-Kannada bilingual show.
Being in the market for nearly one year, there's a whole host of data has come its way on originals, current partnerships with networks, as well as partnerships with other web series creator, like TVF, Pocket Aces and Dice. The platform has been analysing the data to understand which shows work, who is the new audience and what have they been watching. According, MX Player is fine-tuning the content strategy in 2020.
Having said that, the focus will still be on the Hindi heartland. These will be small-town stories that can connect with tier II and III audiences. The platform will also have a couple of shows for the top eight metros and a cluster of 29 towns. It also aims to maintain a healthy mix between universal shows and shows targeted at specific audience clusters.
“We did a very successful non-fiction show Love Ok Please collaborating with Too Yumm. Going forward, we are looking at key integration for brands. You will be seeing another big non-fiction show coming up called Times and Music, which is going to have a very serious brand integration as well,” he adds.
Notably, MX Player is going to be experimenting with interactivity of content. An upcoming show will involve audience interaction with the story itself. Plans are afoot to make it a norm across shows.
eNews
Piyush Thakur steps down as Inshorts’ chief revenue officer
Former vice president and cro says exit marks a new chapter after close to a decade of building revenue and partnerships at Inshorts Group.
NOIDA: Piyush Thakur has stepped away from Inshorts Group after nearly 10 years with the company, marking the end of a long tenure that culminated in his role as chief revenue officer.
In a farewell note, Thakur said he was “turning a new page” after almost a decade at Inshorts, calling it one of the hardest professional decisions he has made. He added that his exit was not driven by uncertainty about the future, but by reflection on a long association with the company.
Thakur joined Inshorts in October 2016 as vice president and spent around seven years in the role before being elevated to chief revenue officer in April 2024, a position he held until April 2026.
He said his tenure was defined by “thousands of mornings, late nights, product debates and breakthrough moments”, as the company evolved into a large-scale digital news platform used by millions.
In his note, Thakur emphasised that Inshorts’ growth was a collective effort across teams, adding that engineers, designers, sales teams and customer support staff all contributed to building the platform. He said the company’s success was not the result of individuals but of “everyone who stayed, passed through, and left their mark”.
Before Inshorts, Thakur worked across several digital media and business development roles. At ESPN, he served as senior regional manager from October 2015 to October 2016, focusing on growth initiatives, strategic opportunities and video distribution.
At Times Internet, he worked for nearly three years, including as head of business development from April 2015 to September 2015 and chief manager from January 2013 to March 2015. His responsibilities included monetisation of mobile platforms, managing media and developer partnerships, and driving revenue across digital properties such as The Times of India and The Economic Times.
Earlier, he worked at Brandmovers as head of business development from June 2012 to June 2013, handling digital, mobile and social media marketing solutions, client development and strategic consulting. During this period, he also worked on advertising revenue, brand strategy and CRM-based solutions.
At Inshorts, Thakur’s role focused on revenue strategy, mobile and media partnerships, and growth initiatives across platforms. His profile highlights experience in mobile product management, digital business models, partner ecosystems and revenue expansion in high-growth environments.
