iWorld
MX Player’s content play for OTT platform launch
MUMBAI: In the last two years, India’s media and entertainment industry has witnessed the emergence of several over-the-top (OTT) players. With an ambition to gain a foothold in the burgeoning OTT space, Times Internet recently acquired a majority stake in Seoul-based MX Player. While the company is yet to reveal the exact launch timelines, the last quarter of this year is likely to mark the entry of another big-ticket aspirant. With a team of 150 employees, the platform is prepping up for its grand launch with at least five to six premium shows.
Like many other OTT platforms, MX Player also intends to tap into the millennial audience, the age group of 18-35. Despite the mushrooming of digital platforms, young India is hungry for more content, making the play easier for new entrants.
MX Player content head Gautam Talwar thinks the need for content has not been satiated by the current television offerings.
“We are understanding their specific need states and making sure that the programming is aligned to satisfying those need states via our original programming and curated licensing strategy,” he said in an interaction with Indiantelevision.com.
Talwar claims that the local video platform has approximately 65 million daily active users and 175 million monthly active users who are spread across the country. They want to cater to those consumers specifically with 50000 hours to 100000 hours of premium curated licensed content along with the originals.
However, the content head says they want to mainly focus on originals. He is optimistic about showcasing 20-25 original shows for the year 2018 – 2019, slating five to six shows for the launch. The content will not be limited to fiction only.
For offering premium content, the streamer is working with noted faces from both the film and television industry.
“We have directors like Shashanka Ghosh( Veere Di Wedding), Shashant Shah (Chalo Dilli/ Dasvidaniya) Samar Sheikh (Girl in the city/ Bobby Jasoos), Siddharth.P.Malhotra (We are family/ Hichki), Gautham Menon (Ondraga Films) in the fiction space along with working with writers like Habib Faisal (Do Dooni Chaar/ Ishaqzaade) and Abbas Tyrewala (Maqbool and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na) to develop some key shows for us. We are also making sure that we leverage our internal group strength by having WWM (Filmfare/Femina) produce a show that has all the top regional celebrities on one of our key show. Similarly, we are working with the best of the non – fiction teams in the industry with new formats and thinking that we believe will appeal to this new generation of consumers,” he said.
To enrich its library, they are looking at leveraging both their house production team and talent from within the industry. Apart from riding on the back of the Times Studio, they are also working with producers and production houses from outside the industry.
Victor Tango, music director Shameer Tandon, Sunshine Productions are already working with the team and talks are on with a whole bunch of external producers who have put out good content across mediums. The platform will leave no stone unturned for providing customers with a seamless experience, with Talwar highlighting that MX player will be “investing more than industry averages on the product, tech as well as content”.
To stand out in the crowded Indian OTT landscape, content differentiation and deep pockets for effective marketing of the product is essential. While customer acquisition will not be a challenge for MX Player, but to build a loyal fan base the content will have to be extremely compelling.
“Our differentiation is at multiple levels. At a product level, we have acquired probably the best product in the market since it has been the top 10 apps on the play store for a very long period of time along with having a massive consumer base already. Along with that we believe our focus of Original premium content and curated licensed content would differentiate us and finally our business model which is AVOD would help with consumers who won’t have any barriers to sampling and consuming our content at will,” Talwar commented.
Interestingly, the platform will focus on South Indian market with Tamil, Telugu content from the get go. They have a bunch of premium curated web series, which have been licensed as well as originals specific for the target audience. Moreover, the streamer has some big originals, due for a year end release, in its pipeline for the Indian market.
It is certain that the Times group will use all its might to promote the brand well, with OOH playing a key role in the media mix. With the launch of MX Player, not only will consumers have more content options, the industry too will be benefitted. On the other hand existing players, especially, international streaming giants Netflix and Amazon will see some potential competition.
iWorld
WhatsApp emerges as key commerce channel in India: Meta report
Whitepaper shows 77 per cent of purchases influenced by social media and shoppers spend 2.5 times more across channels
MUMBAI: If shopping once meant a stroll down the high street, today it begins with a scroll on a smartphone. India’s retail journey is being rewritten in real time, as consumers glide between Instagram Reels, WhatsApp chats and physical stores with barely a pause for thought. A new whitepaper by Meta in collaboration with the Retailers Association of India argues that this shift is not cosmetic but structural, powered by artificial intelligence, short form video, creators and conversational commerce.
The numbers underline the scale of the change.
Social media now influences 77 per cent of retail purchase decisions in India, with Meta’s platforms accounting for 96 per cent of social driven discovery. Discovery itself is increasingly passive and visual rather than deliberate and search led. As much as 97 per cent of consumers watch short form video daily, and 60 per cent of time spent on Facebook and Instagram is devoted to video content.
In other words, the shop window has moved to the feed.
The report highlights the growing dominance of the omnichannel shopper, a consumer who researches and buys fluidly across online and offline environments. More than 50 per cent of retail consumers research products online before purchasing in store. Equally, over 50 per cent browse in store before completing their purchase online.
This blended behaviour is lucrative. Shoppers who buy across channels spend 2.5 times more than single channel shoppers. When customers engage across multiple touchpoints, spending rises by as much as 73 per cent. For retailers, unified commerce is no longer a strategy slide. It is a revenue imperative.
Meta India director of E commerce and retail Meghna Apparao, urged brands to focus on three pillars: Reels and creators for authentic storytelling, omnichannel performance marketing to connect platforms, and WhatsApp as a personalised commerce channel. Hitesh Bhatt of RAI noted that the challenge is no longer adopting digital tools but integrating them to deliver measurable outcomes.
Artificial intelligence sits at the heart of this integration. Indian retailers using Meta’s omnichannel optimisation have recorded more than fourfold improvements in omnichannel return on ad spend. Businesses that integrated in store sales data through Meta’s Conversions API have reported Roas uplift ranging from 2 times to 5 times or more, alongside incremental sales growth of up to 9 times depending on category and market.
Integrated data strategies have also delivered revenue growth of up to 15 per cent, suggesting that when digital signals are tied to offline outcomes, marketing efficiency sharpens considerably.
Retailers are already putting this into practice. Reliance Digital has leaned into a Reels first strategy, working with regional creators to drive engagement and measurable business impact. Croma says Meta’s AI powered tools have enabled it to integrate offline data and activate performance marketing across touchpoints, strengthening both footfall and revenue across online and physical stores.
Trust is increasingly creator led. The report finds that 71 per cent of consumers make a purchase within a couple of days of seeing creator content on Meta’s technologies. Campaigns that leverage reels and creators have delivered 71 per cent higher brand intent lift and 19 per cent lower acquisition costs.
Micro and nano creators, in particular, are accelerating purchase decisions by embedding products into relatable, local narratives. Influence is no longer confined to celebrity endorsements. It is distributed, conversational and continuous.
If Instagram and Facebook drive discovery, WhatsApp is emerging as the conversion engine. According to the report, 72 per cent of product discovery now happens on WhatsApp. Retailers using business messaging and click to WhatsApp campaigns are seeing a 61 per cent average improvement in return on ad spend, a 62 per cent increase in leads and 22 per cent higher order values.
The implication is clear. Commerce is shifting from clicks to conversations. Discovery, purchase and post purchase support increasingly unfold within a single chat thread.
The whitepaper argues that omnichannel maturity will define competitiveness in Indian retail. Consumers no longer toggle between online and offline modes. They operate across both simultaneously, often within the same buying journey.
For brands, the task is no longer about being present on digital platforms. It is about stitching together discovery, data, conversation and store experience into a unified loop that can be measured in footfall, revenue and repeat purchase.
As India’s shoppers continue to scroll before they stroll, the retailers who align AI, creators and messaging into one seamless experience may find that the path to growth is less about adding new channels and more about connecting the ones they already have.
