iWorld
Hungama Play partners UK’ ITV Studios, to foray into original content
MUMBAI: Video-on-demand (VOD) player Hungama Play has partnered with ITV Studios, a commercial production company in the United Kingdom. With this association, subscribers can now stream popular titles like Jekyll and Hyde, Mr Selfridge, Jericho, Agatha Christie’s Poirot as well as Beowulf to name a few on Hungama Play.
Hungama.com CEO Siddhartha Roy said, “This content acquisition is in line with the overall consumption on our platform and we are getting in more and more premium content to our users in order to driven joyable experiences.”
Catering to genres like action, drama, comedy and mystery, this association will provide Hungama Play users across the Indian subcontinent access to the best of ITV Studio’s rich and vast international content range.
ITV Studios Global Entertainment Asia SVP Hyeonza Hong added, “ITV Studios has a long and rich history producing world class content with a wide appeal.”
Hungama Play aims to enhance consumer experiences with over 23000 hours of video content along with exciting features such as download manager, Gamification, gesture controlling and download scheduler among others.
Besides the vast movie library of over 8000 titles, Hungama Play has also launched content categories including television, music videos, kids, short films as well as live events across genres and languages, with over 45000 video pieces to choose from. It will soon foray into original content with the addition of four new series.
iWorld
Banijay Asia’s The 50 tops OTT charts with 8.1 million JioHotstar views
Reality competition becomes most watched show on JioHotstar in debut week.
MUMBAI: Fifty contestants walked into a palace, but millions of viewers showed up for the drama. Reality competition The 50, produced by Banijay Asia, has emerged as the most watched show on JioHotstar, clocking 8.1 million views in its debut week. The figure, reported by Ormax Media, places the show at the top of the OTT viewership charts and marks a strong opening for the digital reality format.
Adapted from a popular French format, The 50 brings together 50 personalities from television, digital platforms, music and reality shows inside a grand palace setting. Over the course of a 50 day competition, participants form alliances, compete in unpredictable tasks and navigate eliminations as the field steadily narrows.
Guiding the game is a mysterious figure known as The Lion, an unseen game master whose voice introduces twists, challenges and strategic turns throughout the show, adding an extra layer of suspense to the contest.
What distinguishes The 50 from typical reality competitions is its audience driven prize structure. Instead of the winner taking home the final reward, the prize is awarded to one of the winner’s registered followers through the show’s dedicated app. The mechanism effectively turns viewers into participants, allowing fans to have a direct stake in the outcome.
The contestant lineup features a mix of television actors, reality stars and digital creators, including Karan Patel, Urvashi Dholakia, Divya Agarwal, Mr Faisu and Dushyant Kukreja, each bringing their own fan following to the show.
With its blend of celebrity personalities, strategic gameplay and interactive viewer participation, The 50 has quickly carved out a strong foothold in India’s digital entertainment landscape. Its 8.1 million views in the opening week underline the growing appetite for large scale reality formats designed specifically for OTT audiences.
