iWorld
JioCinema, Disney India strike content partnership
MUMBAI: That latest OTT partnership is that of JioCinema, a digital app from Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) with Disney India. Under the partnership, the app will host a dedicated Disney branded section on the homepage for the first time ever. Jio users now will get access to stories from the biggest brands in storytelling including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Lucas Film.
Along with these famous stories, Jio users will be able to access a large number of international as well as locally created content through this association. Moreover, the app also brings in a unique character customisation option where fans can choose from their favourite Disney, Marvel, Pixar or Star Wars character such as Mickey Mouse, Captain America, and Lightening McQueen and browse the entire range of content available on that character.
Kids will definitely enjoy JioCinema more than ever as it is now home to heart-warming stories of Disney like The Jungle Book, The Lion King and the ever-so-popular tales of Disney Princesses like Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty and more. Even superhero fans are in for a treat with movies like Iron Man, Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor along with animated series such as Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers Assemble.
It is obvious that the partnership will increase the width of content on the platform enormously. All telco players are increasing their content play by striking deals with large content creators as well as by investing in original content.
iWorld
Prashant Iyer joins Sony LIV as head of marketing
The former Netflix India director grew the streamer’s social following from half a million to 55m
MUMBAI: Sony LIV has poached one of India’s most battle-hardened streaming marketers. Prashant Iyer, who spent nearly eight years at Netflix building its India operation into a social-media juggernaut, has joined the platform as head of marketing.
Iyer leaves Netflix having done rather a lot. He grew the streamer’s India social community from roughly 500,000 followers to over 55m, delivered engagement and organic impressions double those of rivals, and ran more than 250 campaigns across titles, brand and partnerships. In his final role as director, marketing, he sat on the core leadership team credited with driving 15-times revenue and subscription growth over eight years. He also served as the only director-level social leader across Asia-Pacific, a regional mandate that stretched across a 200m-plus follower community.
Before Netflix came Nike, where Iyer spent three and a half years straddling digital brand commerce and key account management, including ownership of Myntra, the brand’s largest digital account in India. Earlier still, Titan Company gave him his first crack at brand and digital marketing.
Sony LIV, which has been muscling for position in an increasingly crowded streaming market, has landed a marketer who knows precisely how to build an audience from scratch and, just as importantly, how to keep it. For a platform still chasing the kind of cultural cachet Netflix India took years to earn, that is not a bad place to start.
