iWorld
How VOKE is helping Hotstar to bring 3D VR to Kabaddi
MUMBAI: That India’s leading video streaming OTT player Hotstar is making its coverage of the World Kabaddi League available to viewers in 3D Virtual Reality(VR) is known to many now. But what’s not known by most is who is behind making this is a reality. Well, it’s a Silicon Valley based company called VOKE, which has helped stream the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four, the CBS Morning Show and live streams of concerts, NBA, NFL and college football games, courtesy its live TrueVR technology. It is ranked as amongst the best in the live event VR space and its focus is on building the next generation of fan engagement for live sports and entertainment.
“Star India is one of the most iconic media companies in the world and has been focused on transforming sports in India. This partnership will allow them to provide live, immersive virtual reality experiences to their users for the first time,” says VOKE co-founder & CEO Sankar Jayaram. The flexibility of our technology platform is unique and enables media companies to reach their audiences across a variety of mediums and deliver personalized VR experiences to all fans like never before.”
Adds Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan: “We owe our loyal and growing platform users the very best video experience in the world. Fans in India look to Hotstar to set the benchmark for video streaming. We are excited to collaborate with VOKE to bring a dramatic new live experience to sports fans.”
The flexibility of VOKE’s platform is significant and it enables media companies to host the VR content on their own sites and branded applications instead of requiring that it be aggregated on the VOKE VR site. Hotstar users will be able access the TrueVR™ stream by selecting the Google Cardboard feature in Hotstar’s iOS and Android apps or by downloading the Hotstar Gear VR app from the Oculus Store. Highlights and video on demand content will be available through the same outlets for those who are unable to watch it live.
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| The Voke Camera Pod |
VOKE’s live TrueVR™ stream for the Kabaddi World Cup will be available to Hotstar users on both Google Cardboard and Gear VR headsets. In addition, a personalized, 2D user-controlled experience will also be available for viewers without headsets on Hotstar.com or on the Hotstar app. It is the first time TrueVR™ content from a live event of this magnitude will be available on multiple headsets and mobile operating systems.
Speaking to SportsVideoGroup in late August, Jayaram explaining the virtues of VOKE’s VR expertise had said: “So we put multiple pods on the field, and we allow users to choose where they want to be…. One, we can do a produced feed and take people where we think they might want to be. But we feel that, if a user really just wants to be sitting down by the players and coaches in VR, those are options and choices we want to give them. All of our cameras are completely synced, down to the frame level. Which means, when you want to do a replay or you pause one camera position, you can pick the action up from another camera at the exact same frame. Our cameras can go down to that level of detail if our viewers want to use it that way. So we provide full multi-POV, synchronized, DVR-capable streams, and that spans across VR, mobile, VOD, everything.”
VOKE says that the Hotstar partnership will continue for more live sporting events going forward. That should be good news for immersive virtual reality sporting event lovers.
e-commerce
Instamart report maps India’s summer shopping habits in 2026
Ice cream peaks at 9 pm, dahi tops orders as categories surge up to 300 per cent WoW.
MUMBAI: When the heat rises, India doesn’t just sweat, it shops with muscle memory. Instamart’s Summer Trends 2026 report paints a vivid picture of how the country navigates rising temperatures, revealing a pattern less about experimentation and more about ritual. From curd with every meal to a near-universal 9 pm ice cream habit, summer consumption appears deeply predictable and sharply responsive to heat.
As temperatures climbed through March and April, orders across key categories surged by as much as 300 per cent week-on-week. Mangoes, cold coffee, fizzy drinks and fruit popsicles led the charge, while cooling appliances such as fans and air coolers saw demand jump over 280 per cent. Summer accessories clocked the highest spike, with sunglasses soaring 650 per cent year-on-year.
At the centre of India’s summer basket sits a familiar hero, dahi. The dairy staple emerged as the most-ordered item overall, with six of the top ten products being curd-based. Fresh produce is also gaining ground, with watermelon and muskmelon seeing steady traction signalling a shift towards simple, cooling foods rooted in everyday habits.
Then comes the nightly ritual. Across cities, 9 pm stands out as the peak hour for ice cream orders, with demand between 6 pm and 9 pm more than doubling. Family-sized tubs dominate, suggesting planned indulgence rather than impulse buys. Chocolate remains the undisputed favourite, accounting for nearly one in four ice cream orders, ahead of vanilla, butterscotch and even seasonal mango.
Spending patterns reveal just how seriously India takes its summers. In Guntur, one user spent Rs 15,005 on energy drinks and mini fans, while carts in Goa, Bengaluru and Hyderabad crossed Rs 11,000, filled with everything from coconut water to cold coffee and ice cream. Kolkata followed closely with spends exceeding Rs 10,600.
While metros continue to drive volume, smaller cities are quietly outpacing them in intensity. Locations such as Central Goa, Thrissur, Thiruvalla, Nagercoil and Manipal recorded higher orders per user, suggesting that India’s summer cravings are as strong beyond big cities as within them.
Mango season, meanwhile, is off to an early start. Sindhu mango currently leads orders, followed by Banganapalli and raw mangoes, with Alphonso yet to peak. Bengaluru tops the charts in mango demand, outpacing Hyderabad and Chennai combined, while cities like Thanjavur, Pondicherry and Mangaluru are emerging as strong contributors.
Even beverages are getting an upgrade. Jeera masala soda surged 900 per cent in March, while cold coffee grew nearly 700 per cent, alongside rising demand for coconut water, buttermilk, lassi and milkshakes. Like ice cream, drink consumption peaks in the evening, reinforcing the rhythm of India’s summer routine.
Regionally, preferences vary but patterns align. Ahmedabad and Rajkot favour buttermilk and soft drinks, Chandigarh leans on lassi, while Bengaluru and Mumbai skew fruit-heavy. Chennai and Kochi opt for melons, and Delhi and Lucknow double down on buttermilk.
The takeaway is simple: India’s summer isn’t chaotic, it’s choreographed. And as the mercury climbs, so does a nation’s instinct to order exactly what it knows will cool it down.
