iWorld
Hotstar unveils India’s longest billboard, showcasing range of content offering
MUMBAI: Streaming platform Hotstar has unveiled a unique out-of-home initiative through a massive billboard spanning 10,000 sq. ft in Uttar Pradesh, to highlight the variety and scale of content available on its platform. With entertainment options moving indoors, the brand provides viewers the convenience of sitting back and exploring its extensive range of high-quality free content through these uncertain times.
View the longest billboard here – https://vimeo.com/398152303
Touted as the longest ever in India, the billboard is part of Hotstar’s exciting new 360-degree marketing campaign, “Hotstar ka vaada, free entertainment sabse zyada”, aimed at reaching out to millions of viewers in Hindi-speaking markets in Tier II and Tier III cities, who currently have little access to high-quality content for free.
The Social Street collaborated with Hotstar on this campaign from idea to execution, to source out and construct the longest billboard the country has ever seen from ground up. Standing tall and long on the arterial road joining Shastri Setu (Shastri Bridge) to Jaunpur Tiraha in Mirzapur, the mammoth structure was completed within a period of 6-7 days. The billboard constructed 1000 feet in length and 10 feet in height with an additional 2 feet of height of cut-outs, used a solid framework of bamboos and iron frames to sustain extreme weather conditions.
The billboard showcased Hotstar’s vast library of high-quality free content including several movies like Chhichhore, Mission Mangal; TV shows from Star Plus like Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain, Nazar, Kasauti Zindagi Kay and Star Bharat like Savdhaan India along with News.
Mandeep Malhotra, Founding Partner & CEO, The Social Street, says, “Working Hotstar is always brilliant and fun. The brand inspires us to unlock new ideas and create campaigns that push boundaries. With the longest billboard campaign too, we wanted to create something that would send out the brand’s message in a way that wows people. We were able to leverage media in a way that managed to create brand-new boundaries. Some of our past campaign work with Hotstar, like IPL Largest Player Hunt and Game of Thrones, too are a testament of the innovation, creativity and impact that is at the heart of brand.”
With more than a 60% share of entertainment consumption in 2019, Tier II and III cities have been fueling the growth of online video consumption in India. However, a large section of the audience in these cities still does not have access to high-quality entertainment and is limited to watching reruns of outdated content. While some have lost access to paid channels following the TRAI tariff order, others are hampered by infrastructure issues such as frequent power cuts. This issue of access is further exacerbated by a single shared TV screen in large households.
The new campaign by Hotstar aims at bridging this accessibility gap for its viewers, through fresh and innovative ways to spread the word about its vast library of high-quality free content.
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
