New Delhi: Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd (MSM), which operates the Sony set of channels, is gearing up to produce original shows for its online site and mobile application, Sony LIV, in the next six months, said Uday Sodhi, executive vice-president and head (digital) at MSM.
The firm is in talks with independent producers and filmmakers to create a few shows, expected to go live on its digital platform in June. Sony LIV was launched two years ago and gets 5-7 million monthly visitors online, while the app has been downloaded 15 million times.
“We will start producing digital-only content in the first six months of this fiscal. Some of it (content) would be non-fiction and there will be some fiction shows. We want to be storytellers online. It’s an initiative to get more consumers to the Sony platform,” Sodhi said. Currently, Sony LIV has a lot of video-on-demand and surround programming, or complementary programming, for its shows online, he added.
The new shows will be shorter, with an average duration of 10 minutes each. Sony LIV showcases a variety of Hindi television shows featured on Sony, Max and Sab channels, including ‘Tarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashma’ and ‘CID’, among others. According to January 2015 data by comScore Inc, a digital research and marketing agency, India’s online video viewership is at 59.8 million, with total time spent on videos at 23 billion minutes.
Sodhi added that this new content will be monetized through advertising. Sony LIV’s current advertisers include online retailer koovs.com, OYO Rooms (a marketplace of Branded Budget Hotels) and car maker Maruti Suzuki, among others.
While the content is being created primarily for Sony LIV, it might be available across other platforms like ErosNow, nexGtv and Youtube to scale up distribution.
Star India Pvt. Ltd’s digital offering Hotstar too is expected to start creating content specifically for its mobile application, confirmed Ajit Mohan, business head (digital media), Star India. Hotstar has crossed 10 million mobile downloads since its launch in February.
