iWorld
Planet Marathi to launch Marathi OTT Platform
KOLKATA: Passionate filmmaker and producer Akshay Bardapurkar of Planet Marathi, actor Pushkar Shrotri, and music composer Aditya Oak are all set to launch Planet Marathi OTT, India’s one and only platform that curates Marathi content, exclusively for Marathi audience.
The world is experiencing a wave of digital transformation and every industry is adapting to it. The emergence of OTT has disrupted the experience of entertainment for the audience making it accessible, affordable, and uncomplicated. While many Indian OTT platforms have tried to be inclusive about regional content, Marathi craft is yet to see it’s high praise! Passionate filmmaker and producer Akshay Bardapurkar of Planet Marathi, actor Pushkar Shrotri, and music composer Aditya Oak are all set to launch Planet Marathi OTT, India’s one and only platform that curates Marathi content, exclusively for Marathi audience.
Marathi craft was yet to receive its rightful place in the digital space. Planet Marathi OTT’s tagline, ‘Ma Mancha, M Marathicha’ evokes a sense of pride as we will finally see the launch of an OTT specifically for Marathi audience. Planet Marathi OTT hosts a plethora of binge-worthy Marathi content like films, theatre, television shows, infotainment, educational content for kids, fiction, non-fiction, reality shows, and a lot more! It is the future of digital entertainment in the Marathi language. IOS and Android users globally will witness entertainment experience that meets international benchmarks with this app. Making premium subscriptions affordable for every household and viewing experiences simplified for all age groups, Planet Marathi OTT streams more than just regular entertainment. The OTT streams recreational content like karaoke songs, recipes, yoga, health, and live-fitness videos too! The somewhat neglected yet noteworthy Marathi content finally finds a rightful place on Planet Marathi OTT.
Talking about his dream project, Planet Marathi Seller Services Pvt. Ltd producer CMD Akshay Bardapurkar states, “Marathi films lack the edge in calculated box office releases. Planet Marathi aims to simplify this for talented filmmakers, who want to reach the global audience without worrying about consuming the budget on marketing the films rather than crafting it. Planet Marathi’s overarching vision is to create an ecosystem where Marathi films, filmmakers, artists, technical teams, and most importantly the language thrives”.
Planet Marathi Seller Services Pvt. Ltd actor and CEO Pushkar Shrotri defines Planet Marathi OTT as a ‘new-age entertainment’ solution. He adds, “We see a paradigm shift in the way content is being consumed today, the changing times are setting new archetypes in Marathi entertainment, OTT being at forefront of this movement. Marathi entertainment industry needed a call for action where an exclusive Marathi OTT is launched to cater to the entertainment needs of Marathi audience, Planet Marathi OTT will do exactly that!”.
“Planet Marathi honors the language, culture, and the spirit of Marathi! It gives us great honor to represent India’s one and only Marathi OTT. I am truly ecstatic to be a part of the team and we hope the audience will also love our offerings. It is a proud moment for me”, Music composer and Planet Marathi Seller Services Pvt. Ltd COO Aditya Oak states .
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.
