iWorld
Hungama expands footprint in digital content space
MUMBAI: Hungama has expanded its footprint in the digital original space with the launch of its new Hindi show Bar Code. The new drama has been produced by Abhishek Pathak under the banner of Panaroma Studios. From 10 October, the show is available on its video on demand service Hungama Play.
“Hungama originals have helped us present stories that are different from those offered by the conventional medium, this narratives have widespread appeal and are appreciated by digital audiences globally. With Bar Code, we explore universally identified themes like friendship, ego, love and rivalry. We are certain that a strong content line-up and a robust worldwide distribution strategy will help us increase our user base on Hungama Play significantly,” Hungama Digital Media COO Siddhartha Roy said.
To reach the audience base, the company will leverage its distribution strengths. The new show will also be available to stream through Hungama Play on Vodafone Play, Idea Movies & TV, Amazon Fire TV Stick and other Android TVs along with Mi Video and Mi TV.
Though the company has dabbled with online music and short-form video content for a long time, it has jumped into the long-form video content bandwagon recently. In the first half of this year, the company announced four web series among which three have been released. Recently, the company also ventured into original in regional languages. It will soon roll out shows in several regional languages across genres.
iWorld
Ankuur Rajesh Kapila named national sales head – India at ZEE5 & digital
Former sports-gamification executive to drive revenue strategy and digital monetisation across India
MUMBAI: A seasoned dealmaker across television, sport and digital, Kapila steps in as national sales head – India, charged with sharpening revenue strategy, widening market reach and deepening digital monetisation. The mandate is clear: convert scale into sales and attention into advertising.
The move bolsters the streaming ambitions of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited as competition intensifies in India’s crowded OTT market. The focus will be on stronger advertiser tie-ups, smarter packaging and monetisation that keeps pace with shifting viewer habits.
Kapila arrives from JioStar India Pvt. Ltd., where as vice president – sports gamification he helped scale Jeeto Dhan Dhana Dhan into one of the country’s largest live play-along ecosystems. During the Indian Premier League and major international tournaments, the platform engaged over 300 million fans, blending branded integrations with sponsorship-led revenues.
The appointment also marks a homecoming. Across a 14-year earlier stint at the company, Kapila handled brand solutions across regions and genres, led key account management for the GEC cluster and oversaw programming and content acquisition at Zee Studio. Few executives have worked as many sides of the revenue engine.
For ZEE5, the signal is unmistakable: monetisation is back in the spotlight. With advertisers chasing measurable impact and platforms chasing profitability, Kapila’s brief is to make growth pay. In the streaming wars, scale is vanity, revenue is sanity, and momentum is everything.
