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Budding tech startups that are utilizing the VR and AR space
04 Feb, 2019
Publication:-Mint-Hindustan Times
Holosuit is a startup focused on changing the way people learn and interact in the real and virtual world
A B2B platform, Mirrorsize uses the camera(s) on smartphones to get these measurements
Topics
Mirrorsize | Holosuit | Tech startup
We profile two enterprise tech startups that are using advanced technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) to provide solutions in diverse areas
HoloSuit: Learning in virtual worlds
Holosuit is a startup focused on changing the way people learn and interact in the real and virtual world. It has developed a bidirectional, wireless and full-body motion capture suit. The full-immersion sensor-packed jumpsuit allows users to point, touch and feel 3D objects, creating a 4D immersive experience.
It contains options for multiple embedded sensors and haptic feedback devices dispersed across both arms, legs, and all 10 fingers.
HoloSuit is a wireless platform and comes with a SDK (software development kit) that provides developers with possibilities of creating real and virtual applications.
It is also compatible with Android, Windows, and iOS, Oculus and similar AR/VR /mixed reality (MR) platforms. “When the user is in the virtual world, they can virtually play and learn piano, golf, fly a plane, learn any skill, be in a virtual chemistry lab or physics lab, learn scuba diving," says Shabir Momin, co-founder, HoloSuit.
Mirrorsize: Fit to size using AR
On the face of it, this AR startup isn’t doing anything new. Many companies have worked on AR platforms that measure the human body to help e-commerce brands find the right fit for clothes. However, Arup Chakraborty, founder and CEO, claims Mirrorsize’s technology is more advanced than others. He says his technology can get a person’s measurement with an accuracy of one centimetre. A B2B platform, Mirrorsize uses the camera(s) on smartphones to get these measurements. The company has various solutions, tailored to a merchant’s requirements. GetMeasured is a solution for companies who make clothes according to the customer’s measurements. On the other hand, Size2Fit is a solution for those who sell ready-made garments.
The company also plans to launch a solution called Draping. This will allow clothes to be virtually sewn for a customer, meaning users will actually see themselves wearing the clothes through AR technology. Just over two years in the making, Mirrorsize was formed by Chakraborty, alongside two professors from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi—Subhasis Banerjee and Sudipto Mukherjee. -
Singapore focus: Diary of an entrepreneur
Oct 27, 2018
Publication:-The Stack There are many cities an entrepreneur can choose to base themselves. None quite live up to the excitement, charm, and convenience of Singapore, writes Business World’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year Shabir Momin.
I wake up as an entrepreneur and go to bed a businessman, but no matter what hat I wear, Singapore is the pulsating backdrop to my day.
Singapore is an international country with ties all over. Many like myself choose Singapore as a base from which we can manage multiple time zones – I may wake up a couple of hours later than the hoards that flood the MRT, but this is all to make my businesses run more smoothly.
I then do some internal meetings with the team, build strategies, plan new tech solutions, and discuss current live projects. On a weekly basis, I visit each of my companies to catch up and review strategies going forward. When the day is over, I relish the chance to get some time with my kids and end the day with a good dinner and a movie to drain out the cache my brain has collected during the day.
I keep some of my month aside for working with new entrepreneurs who shouldn’t go through the same pain as I did starting up. They can learn from my mistakes, so I give them guidance and help them plan and strategise better. I get so charged up working with them as they are flowing with ideas but they usually don’t have focus. I do my best to try to get them there. With some, I invest time and money, with others I just help them reach the next stage.
Survival of the fittest
They, like most people in Singapore, are upfront, honest, and don’t beat around the bush. This is what I really appreciate about the country, and to my mind why it is has become a global hub of business and innovation.
Everywhere you look there is a very high sense of professionalism, no matter anyone’s walk of life. Unlike other cities where I have lived, there is an indefatigable hunger here: to build, create and make a difference. It might not be for everyone, but it is also a country which truly believes in the survival of the fittest, and a place where true genuine work is honoured and respected.
Singapore means business
For any entrepreneur and businessman, it’s very important to be in a pro-business environment, Singapore is a forward-thinking country that makes doing business easy, and there is no end to the support entrepreneurs like us can find.
In truth, there is not any one reason why entrepreneurs are drawn to the country. But integral is the simple regulations of setting up business, an accepting attitude towards foreigners, and an educated and hungry society. Taken together, these make the country a business magnet, where conducting a global, borderless, business is a breeze.
The beauty is that Singapore can be your headquarters while the world can be your playground to explore tech-driven possibilities. Apart from augmented reality, virtual reality, and renewable energy, I get driven by data mining, artificial intelligence, contextual marketing. These are the core fields which excite me most, and Singapore is a crucible of innovation for them.
Before basing yourself here you do need to familiarise yourself with the business rules and processes. But there is no grey area in Singapore about what’s allowed and what’s not, so you can embark on a journey here with confidence. Long term it’s important to know if it can work for you and your family. It didn’t take me long to realise Singapore ticks all the boxes. It’s impossible to get bored, and having kids makes it that much more enjoyable. I encourage my kids to love Singapore every day, but they don’t need much encouragement.
Life of its own
Singapore never ceases to surprise us with something new. It is a paradise for food, culture, innovation and business. While the world is evolving and getting progressive, Singapore has already achieved most of it and got way ahead of the curve.
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The Dynamic Tech Innovant
July 21, 2018
Publication:-coffeebytesindia.com
For decades, Indians have been playing a vital part in the world of innovation. They are an important cog in the giant technological wheel across the world. Truth to be told, world’s biggest tech and IT companies like Google, Microsoft, Adobe and Nokia are being driven by Indian origin CEOs like Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Santanu Narayen and Rajiv Suri. Other than these, there are many who have made an ineradicable mark in the world of innovation and information technology.\
Odisha born Shabir Momin is one such dynamic tech entrepreneur who has created an identity in the global technology landscape. He has been the youngest CTO (Chief Technical Officer) in the Asia Pacific region at the age of 21 for a US based MNC pioneering in the CRM business and ranked 2nd in the world after Seibel. While technology is his core passion, innovations and opportunities feeds fire into his belly. As an aggressive entrepreneur, he is always on the move. His nerve wracking schedule of a month is, first 20 days he spends in stabilising and scaling up his existing business while the remaining 10 days he spents in brainstorming for new opportunities. To move ahead, he believes in his gut feeling, backed up by research and information. He challenges himself out of his comfort zone, always.
Team Coffee Bytes was happy to catch up with Mr. Shabir Momin to find out what it takes for him to turn his ideas into reality, his current ventures and his thoughts on back home.
For someone who started out as an employee in the BPO sector how did it feel to own the same Bpo?
I can’t explain the feeling, I think it’s a very different feeling all together. But normally when someone says employee in a BPO would usually mean a calling Agent, while I was not a calling agent, I was a CTO then building the BPO technologically.
Hailing from a tier 2 city how did you map your potential in the capital of India?
I just followed the passion in technology, I was anyway not good at studies (other subjects) I am sure many who know me will vouch on that. So, call it passion, that is what made me move forward. God has been kind to me, my parents did let me follow my passion and never pushed me to be a doctor or an engineer (may be deep down they knew I am not capable of being one). Lot of hard work, patience, determination and tons of friend’s support has got me where I am.
At a time when mobile phones were a novelty how did you think of streaming live cricket matches on mobiles?
Videos were not happening at that time due to multiple reasons such as bandwidth problems, phone memory and others. We developed a new technology, which could stream at a lower bandwidth. We were able to crack the technology code after two years of intense hard work and formed the company to build a consumer focused brand. I wanted to bring TV in the hands where anyone anywhere can enjoythe luxury of watching the most preferred sport, entertainment, news and other content anytime. That’s how it formulated further.
What are the current business you are working on?
My current ventures include; Zenga TV, one of the leading OTT services in India, One Digital Entertainment Largest, a Digital Entertainment company, OneAxcess.com, a unique self-serve multi-platform distribution and monetization video ecosystem with over few thousands of content owners, creators and brand advertisers on board, Innov Crowd Pte Ltd which owns two Crowd funding platforms- Desired Wings and Catapooolt focusing on reward based and equity crowd funding respectively, Rastey, a Cab Service, Wyze Bots, a chat bot company, Creators Gurukul, a chain of co-working space across India and SSN Solution, a data science company, WoVoyage, a women only travel company, PSiamgone.com, an after death service and few more.
Five years down the line you had received the Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2013 by TIE and recently you received the ICFAI University Presents BW Business world #Young Entrepreneur Award 2017-18. How do you define success?
It feels amazing when you are being recognized for your hard work. There is no end to success, success for me is to spot the right opportunity at the right time and create value for it. The sense of achieving the desired end results should be the main goal for any business. Everything comes with pros and cons but how you and your team turn every opportunity in the favor of the business, is the main success for me. While this process will keep going, trying to help upcoming Entrepreneurs who are working in some new interesting concepts whether it’s a product or service is something I am really passionate about.
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How do you keep yourself rooted to Odisha?
I belong to Odisha, it’s my home, I have amazing memories from there, I still have my family and friends there, I miss it a lot, I wish I could one day get back and do something from there. One day.
What do you miss about Odisha?
Everything, including the not so good things, specially the time spent with friends, my friends, not to forget the gupchups, chai, the bike rides to puri, the list is never ending.
Odisha then in 2000 and Odisha now. How do you perceive the growth in business opportunities?
The economic growth of Odisha has increased in the last few years. It has now become the most preferred investment destination for the Indian companies who are cost sensitive and are aiming to expand. Sectors including mining & amp; metal, renewable energy and many more are sprouting with great investment in Odisha. It is also promoting food processing business. The only thing I love and at the same time hate about us Odias, we feel we have enough and get content.
Lot of new sectors can be cultivated. I am hoping to bring a power project to the state sometime soon.
Considering your passion for technology how would you rate the future of Odisha in the technology space?
Technology sector in Odisha is growing at a good pace and the future seems really bright. There are really sharp tech minds there who are taking leap in this sector. Lately a group of few students developed an AI based system to detect the faults in the railway tracks to refrain the accidents, which in itself is a great achievement and shows that the mind and the capabilities were always there, we just need a catalyst and a platform to catapult it. The state always had great education platforms, but it used to lack the platform for entrepreneurship or employment, I think that has changed significantly. Firms based out of Odisha, educational institutes, research centers, state government etc are all coming up with the new tech initiatives. Hence, the future seems really bright to me.
As a successful son of Odisha how do you intend to give back to your homeland?
I am looking for a chance to give back, haven’t got a good one as yet. I am hoping my new power project would be a possible opportunity for me to do something for the state, especially because I am bringing it to my home state first before taking it anywhere else. -
Expert insights: How AI keeps you glued to your screen
June 29th , 2018
Publication:-TechWire Asia
TEN years ago, the world didn’t have enough engaging content – whether text, audio, or video.
However, with the proliferation of the internet, cheaper cameras, and a multitude of editing software, the world of content has exploded and audiences are just spoiled for choices.
Vying for attention has forced broadcast media to transform itself and in the process, led them to leverage AI and predictive analytics to re-invent their businesses.
In an exclusive interview with Tech Wire Asia ahead of the ConnecTechAsia summit in Singapore this week, Zenga MD and CTO Shabir Momin discussed the latest trends and developments in the industry.
“Broadcast media has one key big difference, it’s a race for masses. With many channels coming up and taking their niche, the industry is very fragmented. While everyone is trying to create interesting and engaging content, they’re limited by a 24 hrs cycle,” explained Momin.
It’s a non-interactive medium and is build on experiences. Therefore, mapping the right context and target audience from a brand’s perspective seems like a big challenge.
The rise of AI
Artificial intelligence (AI), predictive analytics, patterns, machine learning, and many other aspects of data science make it possible to actually recommend what the audience would like to watch, based on nature, likes and dislikes, time of the day, mood and behavior based and many other such patterns that they build.
“Using all these insights, crispier content can be created which can keep the viewers glued to the screen,” said Momin.
It’s also possible to recommend what kind of brands would get the best mileage out of a certain type of content and it’s viewers.
“It’s not a one-formula which fits all. It changes by geography, language, and many other factors,” explained Momin.
Doing so helps brands discover insights and recommendations about the kind of marketing engagement they should adopt and helps them better understand their audience.
If we stop following thumb rules and kind of let the science give it a shot from scratch, one would be surprised how different things are today from what we described it to be in the beginning.
Online mediums such as YouTube and Facebook who are able to give their users some contextual content and at the same time provide the right advertisements to drive engagement with the content benefit the most.
While advertising can keep riding on the shoulders of content, direct contextual advertising has a big market.
The reality is, there are hundreds of ways to use AI to transform video and engagement. The future belongs to content platforms that do it in a way that benefits viewers and advertisers simultaneously. -
The rise of data driven-predictive analytics: Shabir Momin, SSN solutions
June 11th, 2018
Publication:-E Gov magazine
The world is evolving faster than we know. Brands communication and sales approach are changing and now becoming more driven by data mined, predictive and AI based decision making. With this, data driven market is growing exponentially, brands these days are not just using the data driven information for predictive sale but also using it as a decision making strategy to position itself among its competition.
The data ecosystem is growing with a fast pace and will grow manifold in the near future resulting into the data explosion. With this, brands use the data for better outcomes if used strategically through predictive analytics which helps to understand the business insights.
Using the predictive analytics at business helps to stay ahead in this competitive era where this tool can gauge the competition pattern around which is useful for the strategic decision making prowess at the work place. The practice of using predictive analytics is also gaining a lot of popularity among brands resulting into more profitability in comparison to their respective competition. It ultimately helps to understand the most complex data available, go through all the intricacies, thereby enabling the expected performance.
To encash upon the usage of predictive analytics, one needs the apt infrastructure, resources to recognize the data driven discoveries which enables them to use the right data at the right time to formulate the right decision on the basis of these discoveries.
The challenge which the brands face is that they do not know how to recognize which data to collect and how to analyse the collected data. A lot of brands are facing the same issue. Predictive analytic is very robust and dynamic in nature if the right data is accumulated and the resources can analyze it for data driven discoveries to drive the right business strategy.
It is a matter of utmost importance for any business to drive its growth manifold therefore it is necessary to build the best data experience through collecting the right data along with the right analysis to build the expected business ecosystem with the best-in-class results. The data collected needs to align with the business objective therefore brands should pay extra heed to identify and incorporate the data which is valuable for the business growth.
This entire practice of identifying and evaluation is again a challenge for the business as they do not know which data source to concentrate to seek the complex business problem. They need the appropriate data to formulate the decision.
Brands need to understand that data driven culture is very important to build the effective data. It requires business objective message to be communicated to the employees to support their action.
This initiative at any work place will be ineffective if the resources lack direction and are clueless. If this process is not executed successfully then it would be a futile exercise for the business. Brands need to inculcate and seed their employees with data driven culture and make it a priority with the crystal clear strategy and drive it to the successful zone.
We have managed to build predictive, AI, and data mining algorithms which can not only understand the data correctly, it also provides analytics, insights and most importantly drives sales and improvements suggestions in the products and services that are being provided to the market by various brands for almost all verticals and industries.
We have taken this process to the next level by also doing programmatic sales and customer engagement without human interference. The program identifies the right customer with the right fit of products and provides the right discounts at the right time. This leads to extremely high conversation almost 90%+, unheard of in any industry. This also reduces cost for the brand and we no more need to spam people with tons or promotions and ads which are not relevant to them. -
The rise of data driven-predictive analytics/sales
May
Publication:-Siliconindiamagazine
The world is evolving faster than we know. Brands communication and sales approach are changing and now becoming more driven by data mined, predictive and AI based decision making. With this, data driven market is growing exponentially, brands these days are not just using the data driven information for predictive sale but also using it as a decision making strategy to position itself among its competition. The data ecosystem is growing with a fast pace and will grow manifold in the near future resulting into the data explosion. With this, brands use the data for better outcomes if used strategically through predictive analytics which helps to understand the business insights. Using the predictive analytics at business helps to stay ahead in this competitive era where this tool can gauge the competition pattern around which is useful for the strategic decision making prowess at the work place. The practice of using predictive analytics is also gaining a lot of popularity among brands resulting into more profitability in comparison to their respective competition. It ultimately helps to understand the most complex data available, go through all the intricacies, thereby enabling the expected performance. To encash upon the usage of predictive analytics, one needs the apt infrastructure, resources to recognize the data driven discoveries which enables them to use the right data at the right time to formulate the right decision on the basis of these discoveries.
The challenge which the brands face is that they do not know how to recognize which data to collect and how to analyze the collected data. A lot of brands are facing the same issue. Predictive analytic is very robust and dynamic in nature if the right data is accumulated and the resources can analyze it for data driven discoveries to drive the right business strategy. It is a matter of utmost importance for any business to drive its growth manifold therefore it is necessary to build the best data experience through collecting the right data along with the right analysis to build the expected business ecosystem with the best-in-class results. The data collected needs to align with the business objective therefore brands should pay extra heed to identify and incorporate the data which is valuable for the business growth. This entire practice of identifying and evaluation is again a challenge for the business as they do not know which data source to concentrate to seek the complex business problem. They need the appropriate data to formulate the decision. -
THE JOURNEY FROM CTO TO ENTREPRENEUR
30 April 2018
Publication:-Impact magazine
BY SHABIR MOMIN
MD & CTO, Zenga TV
Technology is something that has always intrigued me and I made up my mind at an early age to follow a tech-related career path. I started my journey at age 16 and became a CTO at 21. I had stints with various tech organizations before the entrepreneur bug bit me. My ventures include OTT service Zenga TV, digital content company One Digital Entertainment, multi-platform distribution and monetization video ecosystem Oneaxcess.com, crowd-funding platforms Desired Wings and Catapoolt. Then there were Rastey Cabs, a corporate and retail cab service, SSN Solutions, a data science, prediction and AI company, and Creators Gurukul, a co-working company, among other companies I have created or helped build.
Apart from augmented reality, virtual reality and renewable energy, I am driven by data mining, artificial intelligence and contextual marketing. These are some of the core driving factors which keep me going. I believe that the world is evolving faster than we can keep up with, and this determines the way we interact, react, choose and engage with information and advertisements. I remember once visiting a town in rural India as a kid, where some big brands would drop leaflets from a helicopter and the kids would go running to collect them and bring them to their parents. We have now moved from an era of billboards, newspaper advertisements and leaflets, to a time of smart advertisements delivered through smart devices which are not only used to build engagement, but also to collect data, user behaviour, likes and dislikes and most importantly contextual marketing.
We live in an era where we think, eat, breathe, and sleep digitally. Marketers actively use this platform to leverage the opportunity to market the product to their respective TGs. With this comes the boom in the customer engagement space - contextual marketing. Indeed, this has become a catchphrase around the world and is quickly gaining momentum, with consumers’ shopping patterns, interests, requirements, etc, being a few key elements of contextual marketing. Consumers are well aware of their choices, and more engaging, customized marketing stands a better chance of grabbing eyeballs. The cultural shift from traditional marketing to contextual marketing shows the shifting consumer buying patterns.
Several brands have started using data mining, behaviour mapping, insight building, AI, prediction, and bots, to build user profiling, enabling them to pitch to the consumer at exactly the right time. For example, I purchased a drone from eBay a few months ago and ever since then, I am being re-targeted from multiple websites selling drones. Yes, I am a potential customer who might fit all the criteria; however, I have already bought a drone. Selling me accessories for the drone would probably be more effective than trying to sell me a drone yet again. While such marketing techniques are highly regarded as best industry practices, the effectiveness of it is not for every industry. If I donated to a cause once and am retargeted, it would still make sense. However, knowing the reason or circumstances owing to which I made a donation – say an emotional video, or a relatable story, is more important, Reaching out to me thereafter with the right contextual product or service is the ideal marketing scenario.
As part of my entrepreneurial journey, I love spending time with younger entrepreneurs who I help guide inspired by their energy. -
Regional content will bring the next big wave in the OTT industry: Shabir Momin, Zenga TV
23 April 2018
Publication:-socialsamosa
One of the early entrants in the OTT industry, ZengaTV has managed to earn loyal through an array of original and acquired content pieces. Social Samosa gets in conversation with Shabir Shabir Momin, MD & CTO, Zenga TV, to understand his view on the present day OTT industry and what can be expected in terms of trends.
Momin sheds light on the dominance of regional content, OTT distribution strategies and more. Excerpts below.
From an OTT market perspective, how was 2017? Which were the major trends?
2017 was a great year and has seen a huge consumer growth on video streaming pace. The OTT market is bound to grow and keep growing, this is inevitable. While the viewership is shifting from linear viewing to either playlist viewing (which is the new linear), especially for those who do not want to search content and video on demand especially for the content made internet. TV market has evolved over the period of time ranging from the limited options of one TV channel with limited show to genre specific channels available today. OTT adding internet focused content to the equation is changing the game. OTT players are mushrooming across the world and gaining not just consumers’ acceptance but also popularity among the patrons. It shows that it is here to rule for long. Different players in the space are taking different approach, so there are many trends, the good news is all of them are great and heading to a common goal of getting more users aware and changing their content consumption behaviour.
Please shed light on the changing content consumption patterns
With the increasing penetration of smartphone, there is an upsurge in the content consumption pattern. OTT content has left no stone unturned to capture the video consummation market. With its high demand, it is growing exponentially. It has been observed that patrons are consuming web based OTT content at large scale and it has been increasing with a great pace. Consumers are swamped with the varied data packs from service providers which indeed are boosting OTT market. Consumers are quiet aware about their choices available and but still want the OTT services free of subscription fee
How would you position Zenga TV in the OTT market? What is the USP that keeps the platform ahead of its competitors?
I believe that Zenga TV has carved the niche in the OTT space quiet successfully so far. Infact, after delivering IPL exclusively on Zenga TV, it has evolved in many ways, from reaching to multiple screens to multiple types of content and also focuses on all segments of users of the market. Our unique technology which could stream at a lower bandwidth surprisingly is still relevant even though we are at 4G and heading to 5G now. We have moved from just few hundred users to over 40 million users globally now. We have a good repeat user base and the freedom of no registration, no fee, and also no app as a must has been a great hit with the users. We have also launched personalized, video discovery and recommendation chatbot on Facebook last year to reach users across platforms, understand their content consumption patterns, and help them get what they want in a conversational manner. Competition is always healthy, it not only shows we are in the right space but also distributes the burden of creating awareness in the market and It only helps grow the market
What are the major challenges faced by OTT players in India?
There are and will always be challenges in terms of patches which doesn’t have good connectivity, sometimes content owners have unrealistic expectations, but these are just about time before it gets reduced. We have seen the time from where even getting an email downloaded to a phone was a big challenge to an era where my kids would say how was that even possible
How well is the Indian market prepared to meet the increasing demand for regional content?
Lot of new things are happening in the regional content space, while some are using subtitle to make it compatible to a larger audience, the others are making more content in that particular language. Addition of channels in different languages by different players is a clear attempt to reach out the maximum regional audience. Basically there is a major chunk of patrons from tier II and III cities who prefer the content in their native language in order to get emotionally connected with the content. Consumers like to see entertainment in their first language. I see a huge growth in the regional market, it is a next big wave in this industry
Original content is said to be the core crowd pooler, how do you plan to incorporate this trend in your strategy?
In today’s scenario it is not just important to have original content but the content should have substance to grab the eyeballs. Consumers are quiet aware of their options and choices these days that they prefer to watch smart cinema. Therefore it is equally important to show content which is unique and different from the mundane content. People tend to get bored so soon and to keep their interest intact with the content is a challenge of another level. We believe in the same strategy and therefore our company, One Digital Entertainment curates the original content for the consumers. It has just made the award winning web series titled ‘SOS’- Survivors Of Suicide. The series brings forth stories of people who have put on a brave face and fought to overcome prejudices and struggles that plague our society when it comes to mental stress. With this series, the network aims to spread awareness about mental stress issues and stamp out the stigma associated with it. The other few digital shows include Hitched, India’s digital superstar, Spice traveler etc.
What kind of distribution strategies are OTT players adapting to, to enhance the reach of their content?
OTT players have widened their reach through multi-screen to reach out to the audience. They are showcasing all types of content on smartphone, TV, laptop, pc etc to give user a different viewing experience as per their convenience. Collaboration with operators to embed the app in the smart television is also one of the attempts to reach out. Content on different genres are produced keeping in mind the interest of the target audience. Producing content in the regional language is also another way to keep it going.
Do you plan to partner other OTT networks as a distribution channel for their original content?
We believe in content collaboration. We already have a lot of content partners from different genre with whom we share the common vision. It is necessary to sync with the partners to drive it together. We are open for all kind of content tie-ups as a content partner. We would like to welcome all in this case, Omni presence is the key to success in this industry. -
Brahma Kumaris & their media wing Godlywood studio award Shabir Momin for his achievement & excellence in media at the International Conference-cum-Cultural Festival
06 March 2018
Publication:-MENAFN
(MENAFN Editorial) New Delhi, March 6th, 2018:- Brahma Kumaris & their media wing Godlywood studio award Shabir Momin for his achievement & excellence in media at the International Conference-cum-Cultural Festival. The International Conference-cum-Cultural Festival on Gods Plan Yoga for World Peace, Health and Happiness was organized by Brahma Kumari & its media wing Godlywood studio at Abu Road, Rajasthan. This five day event highlighted the importance of Rajyoga (King of yoga) in changing the lifestyle and creating positive consciousness around. It witnessed many VVIPs including top Industrialists, Nobel Laureates, Scientists, Top Media Personalities, and other eminent people from different sectors like art and culture, social, sports etc. across the world along with central and state ministers. Brahma Kumari also awarded some key achievers in different fields at this event.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Shabir Momin, MD & CTO, Zenga TV and many other ventures said, I feel honored to receive this award from a global body like Brahma Kumari, which is spreading the much needed global peace and love. I had a wonderful experience to come & visit their global headquarters and also see the significant work they are doing. I wish them luck on bringing the goods of people together to make the world more peaceful.
We believe that recognizing good work done by professionals like Mr. Shabir Momin, is important, they also serve the world in their own way. We believe in self-discovery and to add to that we recognize people so that the process can be accelerated, said Bk Nirwair, Secretary General, Brahma kumaris and Godlywood studio.
The event witnessed many outstanding performances on music, dance, theatre, light and sound show and many more with the theme focused on mankind and humanity.
About Brahma Kumari & Godlywood studio
Brahma Kumari operates out of 140 countries with one vision of bringing peace and togetherness in people. Godlywood is a media wing of Brahma kumaris, It facilitates television programme to revolutionize the impact of media on the individual and collective consciousness. It produces different talk shows and spiritual programmes in English, Hindi and 20 other languages. It provides additional performances in larger quantities which allow viewers to enjoy spiritual uplifting programs.
About Shabir Momin
Started working at a very early age and became the youngest CTO at the age of 21, he was also awarded as the Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013 by TIE and Young Entrepreneur award by Business World in 2018. Shabir has had a successful track record in various technology and business positions at a CXO level for few years before he became an entrepreneur. He has successfully exited few ventures in the past and his current ventures that he has founded and co-founded are Zenga TV, one of the leading OTT services in India, OneDigital Entertainment Largest, a Digital content company, OneAxcess.com, a unique self-serve multi-platform distribution and monetization video ecosystem with over few thousands of content owners, creators and brand advertisers on board, InnovCrowd Pte Ltd which owns two Crowd funding platforms - DesiredWings and Catapooolt focusing on reward based and equity crowd funding respectively, Rastey a Cab Service, Wyze Bots, a chat bot company, Creators Gurukul a chain of co-working space across India and SSN Solution a data science company etc are among the few of his ventures. He has further investments in renewable power and few other industries. He is a successful entrepreneur and a professional with an excellent track record in technology innovation especially in the digital media and convergence technology. Contact Information. -
The changing face of brand integration in online video
31 Jan 2018
Publication:-afaqs Shabir Momin, managing director and CTO, ZengaTV, thinks things have changed to the extent that brand marketers are now asking for "subtle" marketing and product placement over 'slapping' logos onto videos. "That's how it starts," cautions skeptically. Soon enough, 'subtle' gives way to demands that resemble two-decade-old formats. "They say things like 'Looks nice, but can I change the colour to my brand colour?' and 'Can I zoom into the product and show the logo clearly?' and 'I like this but my boss may not,'" he shares.
He has observed another pattern: marketers often start out on the integration route as a brand building exercise but somewhere along the way start demanding sales and conversions from the association. "If you suddenly start worrying about sales, then you're too confused," he says, predicting that technology will play a big role in sales conversion whereas online video integration will help the brand building aspect.
Momin is also the co-founder of a company called One Digital Entertainment, a YouTube certified premium Multi Channel Network that works closely with content creators and artistes looking to find an audience online. Has the conversation with brands moved from betting on a script or a story to betting on individual content creators? "Yes, it is fair to say that's one big change. Today everyone wants to do 'influencer marketing'," he says. After all, influencers bring in a lot of organic reach, as Foxymoron's Gupta points out.
What kind of integration do marketers prefer - being part of the content or appearing during ad breaks on OTT platforms? Gupta says, "As long as the frequency (of the commercial message) towards the same audience is high, they're not concerned with whether it's before or during or after (the content)." Unlike TV shows, online videos are not structured to be interrupted at a 'high point'. "We need a standardised process to create content such that the flow is not lost (when breaks are inserted)," he says.
Owning up to being part of the problem, Havas' Joshi says, "We are not able to convince the client that we will be able to deliver relevant, contextual content that is subtle, as opposed to in-your-face branding. Consequently, a decision is taken in favour of disruptive, non-engaging content."
Lamenting about the lack of means to measure the efficacy of brand integration, Voot's Banerji says, "These are continuous discussions we have with the brand guys." Integrations he appreciates include Red Bull's famous 2012 'Stratos' video (in which Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped from the stratosphere; the parachute surface was heavily branded) and Voot's 'Stupid Man Smart Phone', a reality show in which contestants navigate the hostile outdoors using just a smartphone (Motorola) and a data network (Vodafone). "We didn't change the story narrative to talk about pugs..." Banerji asserts.
What's the brand marketer's biggest grouse when it comes to brand integration in digital video? Overall verdict: ROI, measurability. -
Breaking Barriers, Again and Again
18 Jan 2018
Publication:-Business World magazine One of the youngest entrepreneurs in the country, Shabir Momin doesn’t believe in resting on his laurels
At a time when his peers were chalking out their future prospects, Shabir Momin had already assumed charge, becoming the youngest CTO of a global company.
Momin always had a knack for identifying new opportunities with technology as his core passion. The bouquet of his achievements includes building Zenga TV, the largest OTT service in the country; One Digital Entertainment, the largest digital content company; Oneaxcess.com, an online trading platform and two crowd funding platforms Desiredwings and Catapoolt.
The upsurge in the digital content consumption was well anticipated by Momin, who launched his most successful venture Zenga TV, a mobile TV service with live video streaming for TV channels, entertainment and reality shows and news content, back in 2009.
In fact, the concept of watching cricket matches live on mobile was Momin’s brainchild and Zenga TV became the exclusive mobile, live video streaming provider for IPL T20 in 2009 where Zenga streamed matches live and managed delivery across 140 countries. This at a time when videos on mobile were still struggling to gain traction.
“Videos were not happening at that time due to multiple reasons such as bandwidth problems, phone memory and others. We developed a new technology, which could stream at a lower bandwidth,” explains Momin, who was able to crack the technology code after two years of intense hard work and formed the company to build a consumer focussed brand.
Momin was soon to realise that subscription was not the right game to survive in this business. So, he moved towards a profitable advertising-based model, despite facing criticism. He later launched One Digital Entertainment, bringing together 1,900 content creators and partners, which further led to artist and celebrity management. Momin then launched Oneaxcess.com, putting 20-odd digital products under a single roof. New modules and concepts are constantly being added in this space everyday, to help the video ecosystem grow.
“I am trying to build a full lifecycle business. While we have our own production houses, distribution, OTT services, we also work with Zenga’s competitors in various services like Saavn, Hungama, YouTube and Facebook,” says Momin. “Therefore, everything starting from content creation to distribution, monetisation, analytics, we are doing on our own, while also partnering with others,” he says. Through these ventures Momin is also giving comfort to his competitors by giving them both partnership and competition within different businesses.
Indeed, the entrepreneur’s track record is impressive and inspiring. So, what drives Momin? It is his hunger to excel and his past experience. For instance, before turning a full-fledged entrepreneur, Momin held top leadership positions in companies across the globe and successfully strategised the launch of new technologies not only in the Indian market but also around the world. His talent lies in identifying the gaps in the market and tapping opportunities with innovative products.
Momin has a unique way to keeping himself motivated. He constantly keeps himself in the startup mode, despite having created 24 businesses so far. He keeps 20 days to review his existing businesses and the remaining 10 days for new opportunities.
“While one business is growing and becoming profitable, I would have already started something else and would again enter the startup mode, facing all sorts of struggles,” explains Momin (40) about his drive to do more. “Therefore, no matter how much money my one business is making, the new business would always make me feel I don’t have money. That hunger helps you create and innovate,” he says.
So, what is Momin’s next big disruption? “Content as a format of video will continue to remain as the king. However, the engagement models would change. Chatbots are the next big disruption in the market which would replace the existing websites and mobile applications.”
Growth potential: With upsurge in Internet speed and smartphone penetration, OTT space seems to grow at a pace of 35-40 per cent y-o-y growth. Frost & Sullivan says OTT video market was nearly $210 million in 2016, driven by advertising and is likely to grow at a CAGR of over 80 per cent till 2020. -
Contextual Marketing & Engagement
Dec 2017
Publication:-Siliconindiamagazine Everything around the globe has evolved over the period of time be it humans, weather, geography, culture and many more. As they say, change is the only constant is an apt phrase to explain the evolution terminology here. Selling and marketing a product has never been an easy nut to crack in this competitive ecosystem where the customers know what they want. Marketing not just needs creativity but also requires a lot of brain wracking to understand one and only thing; consumers’ choice.
We live in an era where we think, eat, breathe, and sleep digitally. Marketers are not lagging behind to use this platform and leverage the opportunity to market the product to their respective TG. With this comes the boom in the customer engagement space; contextual marketing, it has become a buzz word around the world and is gaining momentum with quite fast pace among the patrons. Keenly gauging the consumers’ patterns, interests, requirement etc. are the few key elements of contextual marketing. Consumers are quiet aware about their choices; a tom, dick and harry marketing cannot fetch their interest. The more engaging, individual driven marketing stands a great chance to catch their eyeballs which can equally compensate the ROI.
The cultural shift from traditional marketing to contextual marketing shows the shifting buying pattern of the patrons and their preferred choices. Google AdSense makes a much more logic here to drive the attention of the target audience who is indirectly looking for the target advertising to cater their specified needs. It is one of the instances of the contextual marketing where the ads are displayed on the search patterns which users look in for. In short, it is a future big wave for the customer conversion. It is purely a customer centric marketing which is point blank displayed only to fetch the customers. Contextual marketing is an indispensable tool these days since it is a succinct way to reach to the TG at the right time simultaneously sharing the right and apt information on the basis of the user’s need which is mapped based on various parameters, AI, and pattern mapping.
"Using the data with the sole purpose of marketing a particular product and adhering to the ethics will result into the more brand engagement"
With the penetration of the smartphones and tabs, consumers are spoiled for choices, all thanks to the micro moment. You name it and it is just a click away for the consumers. Micro moment contributes to the contextual marketing to a great extent to collate the data, pattern, buying history, consumer behaviour, location and many more which helps the marketer to channelize the product and cater it to the patrons in the more engaging way, thus having more sale conversion. There are many brands in the industry which are leveraging opportunity on consumers searching pattern and simultaneously gathering the right information to target their advertising/marketing skills. At the same time, it is also important to understand the thin line between the privacy of the customer and owning the collated data. Using the data with the solely purpose to market the particular product and adhering to the ethics are more appreciated, resulting into the more brand engagement. Brands are now engaging smarter tools like Chatbots, and user profiling data mining platforms to build the engagement and be a part of the user’s life and help the user with everything they need and when they need it very contextually. -
Zenga TV launches a personalized AI-powered chatbot on Facebook Messenger
24 Oct 2017
Publication:-First Post Mobile TV channel Zenga TV on 24 October launched its personalized artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot on Facebook Messenger.
Equipped with a conversational interface powered by AI, Natural Language Processing (NLP), prediction based and behaviour mapped, the chatbot provides a deep understanding of the customer journey for each individual, content preferences and emotions, which can help the AI engine to personalise the experience for users, the company said in a statement.
"Introducing the AI-powered chatbot will enable us to engage with our users in a more personal and contextual way. We have identified that these automated messaging has the ability to create highly interactive and engaging conversations," Shabir Momin, MD and CTO, Zenga TV, said in a statement.
"Our engagement with our users will now be quick, simple and clear which will enable us to truly personalize the content for viewers," Momin added.
Currently, the chatbot is available on Facebook Messenger but it will soon be available to engage with users across multiple messaging apps, the statement added. -
Zenga TV launches AI-powered chatbot
24 Oct 2017
Publication:-BGR Introducing the AI-powered chatbot will enable us to engage with our users in a more personal and contextual way.
Mobile TV channel Zenga TV launched its personalized artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot on Facebook Messenger.
Equipped with a conversational interface powered by AI, Natural Language Processing (NLP), prediction based and behaviour mapped, the chatbot provides a deep understanding of the customer journey for each individual, content preferences and emotions, which can help the AI engine to personalise the experience for users, the company said in a statement.
“Introducing the AI-powered chatbot will enable us to engage with our users in a more personal and contextual way. We have identified that these automated messaging has the ability to create highly interactive and engaging conversations,” Shabir Momin, MD and CTO, Zenga TV, said in a statement.
“Our engagement with our users will now be quick, simple and clear which will enable us to truly personalise the content for viewers,” Momin added.
Currently, the chatbot is available on Facebook Messenger but it will soon be available to engage with users across multiple messaging apps, the statement added.
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Zenga TV launches AI powered chatbot
24 Oct 2017
Publication:-Business Standard Mobile TV channel Zenga TV on Tuesday launched its personalised artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbot on Facebook Messenger.
Equipped with a conversational interface powered by AI, Natural Language Processing (NLP), prediction based and behaviour mapped, the chatbot provides a deep understanding of the customer journey for each individual, content preferences and emotions, which can help the AI engine to personalise the experience for users, the company said in a statement.
"Introducing the AI powered chatbot will enable us to engage with our users in a more personal and contextual way. We have identified that these automated messaging has the ability to create highly interactive and engaging conversations," Shabir Momin, MD and CTO, Zenga TV, said in a statement.
"Our engagement with our users will now be quick, simple and clear which will enable us to truly personalise the content for viewers," Momin added.
Currently the chatbot is available on Facebook Messenger but it will soon be available to engage with users across multiple messaging apps, the statement added. -
#8 Reasons Why OTT Players will Rule the Connected TV Market
20 Oct 2017
TV market has evolved over the period of time ranging from the limited options of one TV channel with the limited show to genre-specific channels available today. OTT adding internet focused content to the equation is changing the game. OTT players are mushrooming across the world and gaining not just consumers’ acceptance but also gaining popularity among the patrons. It shows that it is here to rule for long.
We are now at digitalization from the traditional era. Each section of the industry including TV, print, film, radio etc. is impacted by digitization. Everything is undergoing the digital transformation. OTT is an apt transformation of the TV industry and adding more internet-only content.
#1 Adequate Infrastructure To Facilitate The Service
With the recent upsurge of the internet speed, the OTT space seems to grow manifolds. There is a behavioral shift among the patrons when it comes to the content selection. It has been observed that patrons are consuming web-based OTT content at large scale and It has been increasing at a great pace. Consumers are swamped with the varied data packs from service providers which indeed is boosting OTT market. Consumers are quite aware of their choices available and but still want the OTT services free of subscription fee
#2 Evolution Is The Need Of The Hour
Every successful thing is evolved some or the other way. Similarly, OTT is the evolution in the content consummation and engagement industry. Brands, services, startups etc are required to adopt the new technology, new ways to be able to survive and sustain their existence in this cutthroat business ecosystem. OTT adaption is whopping every month and covering the larger audience. It’s all due to the need of understanding the consumers’ mindset who always ask something different and want value for time more than money
#3 Collaboration of OTT Players with Pay TV
OTT players and Pay TV have been collaborating for long, but collaboration with individual creators is changing the game, to cater consumers with the best option by offering the best deal. As they say when the winter comes and wind blows, a wolf dies but the pack survives. With it, the consumers will get the best choice on their platter to cherry pick from. OTT is making this a reality
#4 OTT Players Offering Different Categories
There are plenty of OTT players emerging from across the globe branching out different categories (Sports, kids, entertainment etc.) to their respective target audience. The number of users is proliferating. It is carving the niche in this space with creating a lot of opportunities and introducing new categories like prank, just for fun as large new segments
#5 From TV In Your Pocket To Now Content Of My Choice In My Pocket
With the increase in smartphone penetration, OTT content has left no stone unturned to capture the video consummation market. With its high demand, it is growing exponentially
#6 The New Wave Is Coming
Content engagement through ChatBot which will be extremely conversational and personalized is coming. Instead of going to a destination the content will be going to where the conversation is happening like Messengers
#7 Stay Relevant And Contextual
Content or advertisement both needs to be contextual and relevant, if not the engagement which is the new matrix can't be achieved. Identifying the right time and the exact need and servicing the same is the key to success. Using AI and prediction is the new algorithm. Giving few but relevant choices is the new hero
#8 Know Your Audience
It is now possible to know your audience and service they need, every individual has a different persona and connecting to that is the future -
How to Make Your OTT Platform Stand Out in the Indian Market
12 Oct 2017
With leading international players like Netflix, Amazon Prime entering the digital space, the competition in the Indian Over the top (OTT) market has intensified. As more and more consumers are taking the digital route, the OTT players are betting big on bringing diverse content on one platform.
According to a recent KPMG report, the OTT video consumption in India has rapidly evolved over the last year, given the advancements in digital infrastructure and efforts by platforms to create compelling content for consumers at price points which provide value. Original content primarily enables platforms to create differentiation and drive user engagement and stickiness.
Entrepreneur lists out few ways to make OTT platform stand out in a crowded market.
Grab Eyeballs With Unique Content:
With the recent upsurge of the internet speed, the competition in this space is growing with every passing day. Simultaneously, it is increasing the expectations of the consumers from the OTT players
Shabir Momin, MD & CTO of ZengaTV feels the interesting and the most entertaining content will keep the game going to another level. Players which bring the content which is unique stands a chance to grab many eyeballs of the consumers
“We are at that phase where one gets latest information/news etc. on social media platform first in lieu of the news portal. Most of the news, videos are gaining popularity on the social media platforms with the consumers. Therefore it’s important to showcase and distribute the content in the most engaging way on such platforms which can lead the consumers directly to the OTT services out of curiosity. It could be some with latest social tools, highlighting the most captivating points about the content which directs the patrons to the OTT platform,” he explained.
Collaboration at the right time with the right business is very important in this business. Shabir added that collaboration with the individual creators indeed keeps the ball rolling, simultaneously offering the best to the consumers.
Discover Your Niche In The Market:
OTT in India is still new and its reach is fragmented. However, owing to the massive spread of digitalization and increasing the affordability of smartphones, OTT is reaching to the rural hinterlands of India. The same offer opportunities for brands to truly standout by focusing on the growing market for regional content.
According to Uday Reddy- CEO & Founder, YuppTV, It is important for industry players to discover their niche in the market.
“In addition, while there is an increase in the number of videos available online, the end user is spoilt for choices. An OTT platform should typically endeavour to make the online experience truly seamless. Using Data Sciences, Machine Learning & Deep Learning to understand preferences specific to a user and provide content best matching their interests and behaviour patterns would contribute towards the uniqueness of the brand,”he stressed.
Use Regional Content to Win Over Consumers:
Shabir further pointed out that users today like to munch on snackable content that is perhaps light-hearted and filled with humor. The same can then be used to woo users into viewing the original web series.
“Besides, brands can follow a mix of different languages. The market for content in regional languages like Hindi, Tamil, Malyalam, and Telugu is growing and OTT platforms would benefit from including the same,” he added. -
Media companies adapt to new consumption behaviour
Sep 2017
The media and entertainment industry is witnessing a rapid digital transformation with the adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) solutions. These solutions have revolutionised the way in which content is produced, transmitted and distributed. The growing shift towards digital media is also driving the uptake of cloud and big data analytics. Experts in the media and entertainment space talk about their IT strategies, emerging technology trends and plans for upgrading their ICT infrastructure…
What are the emerging technology trends in the media and entertainment industry? How are organisations in this space embracing digitalisation?
Shabir Momin
The media and entertainment industry has always been an early adopter of emerging technologies and has been effectively using technology platforms and automation. The industry has now evolved from adapting existing content to creating new content for the internet. The consumption behaviour of users too is changing fast and the media industry is adapting to it at the same speed
Uday Reddy
The means of content consumption has transformed dramatically over the past decade. The current changes that are taking place in the media and entertainment space are in line with user preferences. Further, key players in the industry are investing in data sciences to best understand user behaviour from multiple demographics and geographies. Meanwhile, the industry is witnessing an increased demand for shorter and crisper content, ranging from short movies to web series. Advertisers too have understood this change in consumer dynamics and are looking for creative placement of their products and services. We are, therefore, witnessing an increased push from advertisers to include their product within the content or web series.
Mohammad Wasim
The media and entertainment industry in India is a sunrise sector for the economy. In the past decade, the industry has been driven largely by increasing digitisation and higher internet usage. This is because the internet has become a mainstream medium of entertainment for most people. At present, the industry is standing at the cusp of a strong phase of growth, which is backed by rising consumer demand and improving advertising revenues.
What are some of the IT/telecom solutions deployed by your organisation? How have they helped in enhancing business performance and efficiency?
Shabir Momin
We use performance management, and planning and process optimisation tools. We have also created tools like www. oneaxcess.com for our content and brand partners, which enable them to increase distribution, performance, monetisation and reach in a simpler way. Meanwhile, adopting new technologies like chatbot-driven engagement is going to change the way we engage with users today. Instead of giving more options to users, which has been the strategy followed by most players in the industry till date, the new trend is to provide fewer but relevant options.
Uday Reddy
In bringing YuppTV to Indian audiences, we realised early on how the internet infrastructure (which is still at a nascent stage) can be a hindrance to providing a smooth user experience. To tackle this issue, we opted for the adjusted bit-rate technology, which delivers a smooth experience in spite of the internet speed or downtime. This enabled us to reach out to newer markets and enhance our subscriber base.
Mohammad Wasim
Considering the heavy data requirements, the existing servers deployed by the organisation are not enough. Therefore, the company needs to make some changes related to the server, workstation and network equipment as far as the IT infrastructure is concerned. New servers are immediately needed to provide better storage capacity. Further, the company plans to bring about some changes in the existing plans and implement new plans. This will provide cost-effective solutions to the company with regard to its telecom requirements.
What are the challenges faced in deploying new technologies and managing the existing IT and telecom infrastructure?
Shabir Momin
Educating the team about a new technology is usually the only challenge that we face. There always comes a time when a team does not want to change the business-asusual technology. However, once the technology is adopted, they realise how effective it makes them and, most importantly, how it helps them save time and increase accuracy.
Uday Reddy
One of the major challenges that we are facing in the over-the-top (OTT) space is the fragmentation of the devices available. There has been major consolidation in the mobile devices market, thanks to Apple and Android. But the connected television and OTT set-top box market is still very fragmented. In order to overcome this, we adopted a multi-packaging approach wherein we encode the content into multiple streaming formats and maintain separate deployments for each type of device.
Mohammad Wasim
Enterprises in this industry face a number of challenges on a daily basis. However, they need to overcome these issues to make a best-in-class experience available to customers. The three main challenges faced by organisations in this space are: • Infrastructure to address data demands: Organisations need to leverage the correct infrastructure for optimum functionality. As more customers utilise different devices for accessing the internet, it becomes difficult to cater to the data needs of each device. To this end, organisations must analyse their existing infrastructure and make changes wherever necessary to expand their capabilities and meet the rising data usage demands.
• Managing IT costs: Organisations need to have the ability to react to the quickly shifting market and effectively manage costs. By utilising the Reboot Restore software, enterprises can significantly lower the costs associated with IT support and the revenue loss associated with system downtime.
• Standing out in the competition: Organisations also need to stay ahead of their competition by offering varied, innovative and better services to customers. Enterprises in the industry can utilise IT tools and systems to understand customer needs and build applications/ services that address their preferences.
What is the scope of big data analytics, cloud and IoT technologies in the media and entertainment industry?
Shabir Momin
Big data analytics, data insights and internet of things (IoT) are enablers of future decision-making. In the future, decisions about what to offer next to an existing user, what changes to make to an existing offering, what products and services need to be launched, etc. will be driven by these technologies. Moreover, data insights can tell companies the price points for these products and the markets to sell them in.
Uday Reddy
These disruptive technologies have laid the foundation for expanding the reach of OTT services. Owing to IoT, the industry is booming with a number of highly innovated, connected devices that facilitate remote media consumption of OTT services. These connected devices enable us to maintain a large data set of new and existing users. Big data analytics helps in turning that massive data set into actionable information. This enables us to deliver content that meets customer needs, understand their behavioural pattern and make personalised recommendations. Together, these innovations help in delivering a simplified and personalised experience to users.
Mohammad Wasim
In recent years, IoT and big data analytics have become the two most-talkedabout technologies. IoT is a fast growing constellation of internet-connected sensors attached to a wide variety of things. This information cannot be processed using traditional SQL-queried relational database management systems. Therefore, a number of alternative tools, notably Apache’s open-source Hadoop distributed data processing systems, various NoSQL databases, and a range of business intelligence platforms have evolved to service this market.
What are some of the IT initiatives that you plan to take over the next few years?
Shabir Momin
We are identifying our user needs and behaviours, and working on that to determine what is best for our users and how we can give them less but absolutely relevant choices. Further, we are changing the way we look at processes and are mapping context for internal people, users and even partners. In the future, our efforts will be directed towards mapping the right demand with the perfect supply.
Uday Reddy
Cloud-based technology and artificial intelligence (AI) are the two major focus areas for us. We are moving our entire IT infrastructure to the cloud as it offers more scalability and facilitates faster adoption of new technologies. Meanwhile, we are witnessing a paradigm shift in the TV watching pattern. The line between liner TV content and catch-up TV content is blurring. To this end, we aim to use AI and machine learning technologies to make channel content more discoverable and give control back to the user.
Mohammad Wasim
The company plans to upgrade its communication infrastructure over the next two years. To this end, we will implement the Cisco Nexus and Cisco Layer 3 switches throughout the country for remote support. Further, we will increase the bandwidth of our existing internet service provider lines to enable better data communication. -
Context is Everything
4 Aug 2017
The world is evolving faster than we can keep up with, so are the way we interact, react, choose and engage with information and advertisement. These information and ads lead us or so to say influence us to one product/service over the other. I also remember when I was a kid some big brand campaigns used to drop leaflets from a helicopter over the city and kids used to run, collect and bring it to parents, We moved from an era of billboards, newspaper and leaflets to a time of smart advertisement delivered through smart devices not only to build engagement but also to collect tons of data, user behavior, likes and dislikes and most important context.
Context is everything; this is the future, while brands in the past used to shoot in the dark hoping to catch the customers by carpet bombing the market. They are slowly realizing that it's actually hurting their brand more than adding value. Reaching the right customer at the right time is the nirvana which brands want to achieve today. Making it extremely effective with less efforts, and reduces the cost of marketing, helping bring the product or service price down making it more competitive.
While some brands are unaware and still following the old traditional models, a lot of brands with new age thinking have started adapting this approach and building much higher adaption and beating their competition even before they realize and take counter measures. Brands have started using data mining, behavior mapping, insight builder, AI, prediction, bots as technologies to build user profiling and then pitching them the right thing at the right time. To give an example, I bought a drone over eBay few months back and ever since I am being re targeted on any website visit with drones, yes I am a potential customer who can buy a drone, yes I did search for it, yes I might be in the affordability category, yes I am a part of urban population, I might be fitting in all the criteria but I have already bought it. Selling me accessories for the same is more effective rather than the same thing. While these are heavily pushed in the market as the best practices but the effectiveness of the same is not for every industry. I would believe if I donated for a cause once and one tries to retarget me it would still make sense. But knowing what was my mood and circumstance and environment, influenced by may be the emotional video, or I had relatable stories which lead to me taking that decision is more important and then reaching out to me with the right contextual product and service is where closures will happen in a snap.
"Reaching the right customer at the right time is the nirvana which brands want to achieve today"
We have two companies in this space SSN Solution focusing on data mining, behavior mapping and finally profiling a user and then layering a predictive algorithm which can actually find the context mapping and actually delivering a product or service promotion which is what the person was looking for. This becomes so effective that we can move sales closures up by few 100 times. Industries which today have a conversion of 0.02% can move up to 5-8% of conversation and from the rest, 92-95% still buys the same product type but a different brand, so the accuracy can be almost 95-98%.
The second company Wyze AI (Wyze Bot) is focusing on bots which is the next big wave coming in the digital engagement industry and would shake up the market in many ways. We deploy chat bots and map behavior and create personalization leading to a smart, effective, meaningful conversation and engagement with users again delivering the product and service which are contextually right for the customer. Bots are like your 20 year old Ramu kaka, who has not only raised you almost as a family, but also knows all your likes and dislikes and that too contextually, meaning how hot should your tea be, how much sugar, how many times, what time, with what snack and the configuration changes instantly if my mood is different or people around me are different like if I have friends at home. Now there are 1000s of these pre set configurations running in his mind for each member of the family to be adapted, reconfigured, modified, re-sequenced and applied depending on the environmental variables. Ramu kaka took 20 years to achieve this and is now an integral part of the family and the family kind of circulates around him now. A bot is going to do the exact same things in the same manner just that it can do it way faster and with fewer mistakes. One can have general bots like Siri, while there will be specialized bots which will do job hunts for you, find your next rented house, buy your next super bike, find you the best restaurants as per your profile and affordability and maybe even a date. The customer service and self-serve industry will totally migrate to bots in few years. All these are just one common goal, context is everything. We are leveraging this new found strength across all our companies and have found significant, very healthy and sustainable growth with happy customers. -
Television Business in India has a New Competitor
14 July 2017
India is witnessing an upsurge in digital content consumption, which has made Over-the-Top (OTT) players shift their focus to the country, luring more clients with good content at cheap rates.
The OTT players deliver audio, video, and other media content on the Internet without involving a multiple-system operator (MSO) in controlling or distributing the content.
Global players Netflix, Amazon Prime and their Indian counterparts Hotstar and Voot have gained considerable market share in 2016, owing to various factors like smartphone-penetration and low-cost internet plans.
Entrepreneur India spoke to Shabir Momin, MD & CTO of ZengaTV.com to understand how Indian OTT players are facing a stiff competition from their global brothers and are striving to gain more traction.
Set up in 2009, ZengaTv brings with it diverse content in different languages that include entertainment, news, movies, music, regional, shopping and lifestyle channels.
Roaring Success of Zengatv
“After my exciting previous venture, I wanted to do something in the mobile phone space at a time when the mobile technology had just started taking shape with 2.5G bandwidth. We were not yet smart then. But I knew, this is the future and everything, including entertainment, would move to a handheld. I started working on the encoding tech and we tasted success when ZengaTV debuted with IPL in 2009,” explained Momin.
The More OTT Players, The Better Is The Market
Momin emphasized that the more OTT players enter the Indian market, the better it is for the industry to grow.
“We are also partners to global players like Amazon for certain projects. We are the launch partner for Amazon Fire and our content and app are embedded in their devices.
We were already their partners in other countries before they came to India. I believe more players will only improve the market as it is far from saturation now,” he stressed.
The consumption of OTT services has shown a significant increase in India and Momin is positive that the operators are here to stay.
With time, the services will move to wearables, holographic and may transition to something like the magic-leap tech.
OTT Services Are Need Of The Day
Momin reasoned that OTT services were the need of the hour and more and more operators were disrupting the Indian landscape.
“TV programming has not evolved a lot and the need for a differently created and programmed content is very high. This kind of content is called made-for-internet content. It comes with two important factors like convenience and flexibility of watching whatever, whenever and wherever. The availability of greater bandwidth and smarter devices are making the transition to the new mode smoother and faster,” he added.
He affirmed that the OTT market was bound to grow. The viewership is shifting from linear (TV) to playlist mode, especially for those who do not want to search content. The video-on-demand feature, especially for the Internet-content, is a big draw.
“Competition is always healthy. It shows that we are in the right space and also channelizes the burden of creating awareness in the market and it only helps grow the market,” he added. -
ZengaTV credits its success to free yet premium service to users
5 July 2017
Building a profitable OTT company with over 40 million active users, ShabirMomin, MD & CTO at ZengaTV.com, has come a long way. His hands are already full with OneDigital Entertainment, OneAxcess.com (where he holds the same designation as ZengaTV) and Desiredwings.com. Another successful network, One Digital Entertainment, since its inception in 2012, has amassed over 1,900 content creators and partners with over 20 billion minutes of content watched on YouTube. Momin gets talking about Zenga TV’s growth and content strategy, competition in the OTT space, its latest venture OneAxcess and what it holds for One Digital Entertainment with Facebook’s entry in the video content market.
Edited excerpts:
When it comes to your OTT video streaming platform Zenga TV, how hasthe content strategy evolved over the years?
We started with IPL in 2009, when for the first time, a big sports event like IPL was broadcasted in real time to end users on mobile phones (including feature phones with 2.5G network.)In those days, we were just a mobile TV service, eventually moving on to capture all screens and become omnipresent.
Our focus has always been our consumers. Thus, we not only evolved the technology but also the content categories through understanding user behaviour and pattern. We have been using a different matrix to choose the content type and categories. Our capability to stream better quality on lower bandwidth has been our key to success. The reason being, we would proportionately always be cheap on data and make more content available to the user with same amount of money spent.
What’s your growth strategy?
Our biggest reason for growth and success has been free service yet giving premium service. As a result, we went from just a few hundred users to over 40 million users globally. We have a good repeat userbase and the freedom from registration, fees and downloading of app(as a must), has been a great hit with the users.
What's the customer acquisition and retention strategy for Zenga TV?
Our biggest customer acquisition is done by word of mouth, while our marketing has been silent yet targeted to the relevant user base. This has given us great dividends.
What do you have to say about the increasing competition in the OTT space?
Competition is always healthy. It not only shows we are in the right space but also distributes the burden of creating awareness in the market which only helps to grow the market.
Last year, you were aiming to enter Spain, Germany and other parts of Europe and Asia. How has that worked out for you?
The growth strategy forthe international market is playing out great. We have presence through not only content partners but also a large user base from those markets. Yes, we did want to raise some investment during that time but I think the market was not right and didn’t fit into our plan. Since we are self-sustained and profitable, our growth strategy works either way, with or without an investment.
What are your plans for Zenga TV in 2017?
Growth and more growth is always the plan. How and what does it take to achieve the same is what keeps changing. We are launching some new features and expanding our reach through multiple new platforms. There will soon be a one-of-its kind launch that willchange the way people consume content. Some new tech will be launched soon that will improve the user experience. The latter is a constant effort and commitment to our users.
Tell us about OneAxcess. How are you monetising it?
OneAxcess.com is our latest in the video space, which enables small or big creators join and self-serve to grow faster without having to wait for someone to give them a break. This is an era of democratisation of creators globally and OneAxcess helps accelerate the same. We have over 3500 partners on board and not only do they get to create better with tools like edit online, they also get to distribute to multiple platforms and garner collective benefits from all without having to worry about tech, cost and relationship building.
The best part with this platform is that the creator doesn’t have to give away the content license but have full control on the distribution and management.
How have things improved overall in this space?
Things are way better in terms of user numbers, better and smarter devices, better networks, more content especially made for the internet and global shift to OTT from TV. I think everything is going good collectively for this space.
What are the infrastructure challenges that continue to persist? What can be done to overcome those?
There are and will always be challenges in terms of patches that don’t have good connectivity. Sometimes, content owners have unrealistic expectations but it’s just about time before it gets reduced.
Everyone involved in this lifecycle is doing their best in their own respective deliverables to improvise on the same and it’s not far when these current issues would be a thing of the past.
With Facebook’s entry in the video content market, what does it mean for digital video and creator network like One Digital Entertainment? Are you looking to partner with them?
At One Digital, we are a creator-first company. We not only help them make better content but also help them with better distribution and marketing. For One Digital, all the video players in the market are friends and partners and it would remain that way. We leverage each other’s capabilities and reach to collectively make it bigger. -
Shabir Momin MD OneDigital Entertainment At NASSCOM Product Conclave - Hybiz.tv
17 Apr 2015
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX5AO0n8FI4 -
OTT, video apps can work progressively with cable & satellite platforms
25 Mar 2015
MUMBAI: The market for Over The Top (OTT) services has been rapidly growing in the United States. However, can the same model be adopted for the Indian market? That was the key question asked at a discussion at FICCI Frames 2015 on the topic - ‘Clash of the Walled Gardens: OTT and Video apps versus cable and satellite.’
Joining the panel were Zenga TV founder and CEO Shabbir Momin, DGive director and CEO GD Singh, IndiaCast group COO Gaurav Gandhi, Videocon d2h CEO Anil Khera, Eros Digital COO Karan Bedi, Hungama.com CEO and Hungama Digital COO Siddhartha Roy and Hinduja Ventures whole time director Ashok Mansukhani. The session was moderated by Whats ON chief executive officer Atul Phadnis.
Sharing some insights from the US market, Gracenote general manager - video Richard Cusick said that according to a study conducted by the company, nearly 50 per cent of the US broadband households used OTT video services. Young viewers were particularly driving the change as 18 to 24 year olds watched less than half as much traditional TV as 50 to 64 year olds. “Netflix for example has 57 million subscribers worldwide and is a top OTT service provider,” he said.
Cusick said the study increasingly found that networks and studios were resorting to unbundling to single channels as well as live TV bundles. "In such a scenario, consumers benefit the most as great content is served to them," he said.
The question posed to panelists was whether the US implications were similar to that of India and if cable and DTH operators were changing the landscape? Gandhi felt that the implications were not similar to the Indian market because channel specific models like HBO were not available in India. “As a content broadcaster or distributor, the US markets are very clear that they will follow a proper pay model. Here it is still very disruptive,” he opined.
Moving to the experience of launching an OTT in India, DGive’s Singh said that while they still struggled to generate the right revenues, they did in fact receive 25 million downloads. He said when his company approached someone from the US for guidance for the company’s growth charter in India, the executive told him, “If you’re buying content, you cannot give it for free to audiences.” That was a major learning from the US market.
On the content front, Singh said that currently the company had 30 per cent of its content set under the pay wall, which was premium content. “We sell our service for $1 per month per subscriber. We have a million users paying us since we are screen, operator and consumer agnostic. We are looking at breaking even in the next seven to 10 months.”
Sharing his experience, Momin said that Zenga TV had started in 2009 and he was happy with the response from users. “What was surprising in the initial stages was that we saw response patterns coming in from Tier II cities. We now have 20 to 22 million active users per month and have been profitable for the last three years,” he informed. The company also launched a show called India’s Digital Super Star on its platform, which sold sponsorship slots.
Bedi opined that Eros Digital had 14 million active users, wherein the company followed a transactional as well free model that catered to Indian audiences as well as NRIs. “Some key points for our industry is that we will take a leap; a steroid growth will be seen. Two, revenue models like ad dependent, subscription based, free as well as paid will have to work in tandem,” he said.
The true value of the customer in the coming years will move towards mobile screen consumption, informed Roy.
Speaking from the perspective of a direct to home (DTH) operator, Khera was of the opinion that while OTT players may have a million plus subscribers, the content from OTT was for second screen consumption. Technology like 4K is only for television. On a lighter note, he added, “India gets entertained heads up and not heads down.”
Mansukhani too had a similar opinion. According to him, being an old cable company didn’t mean being out of date. He said that they too provided pay channels on a pre-paid model. “Most Indian homes today use multiple screens. It doesn’t matter who wins. There is space for all as content is being consumed via tablets, mobiles as well as television.”
Mansukhani went on to compliment Star India’s Hotstar app saying that it was a fantastic proposition.
“As a businessman, I am interested in exploring various opportunities but I’m worried about providing free content as high content cost is not justified in providing the content without a price tag. I am against giving free content on OTT,” Khera opined. He also hinted at Videocon d2h entering the OTT space but refused to give any details.
Speaking on the challenges of the OTT space, Roy said that for them to benefit from the digital advertising pie, the pie itself should grow in order for profits to trickle in.
The notion that OTT platforms are for free should be broken. “OTT is about the bundle and there is no choice if one has to pay or not. Cable companies are our allies as they provide us pipes for distribution,” Bedi said.
Having the last word, Mansukhani said that all stakeholders should come together and ask customers on the kind of content and pricing for platforms. The profits could then be shared, he suggested.
In conclusion, the panelists agreed that the three key challenges were cash flow, content windowing and specific business models. -
Zenga strikes gold again brings home two honours
18 Dec 2014
NEW DELHI: Zenga Media has received awards for Best Mobile & Web TV and Best Engagement App ?Sunny Leone? along with the Integrated Marketing at the 2nd Asian Customer Engagement Forum & Awards.
The customer engagement forum, founded in 2012-13, is one of Asia?s largest communities of customer engagement and advocacy professionals, including the most innovative practitioners around.
Zenga Media which is the exclusive digital rights holder of Sunny Leone in India, creating and managing Sunny Leone?s official mobile app has showcased its excellence by winning Best Engagement App.
The thought behind Celebrity Fan Engagement App was based on the fact that people are used to handheld devices like smart phones and tablets for close interaction and direct engagement. This is a space Zenga Media decided to look closely at helping celebrities reach out to their fan keeping in mind a direct interaction and gratification to the followership that these celebrities have.
Sunny Leone said, ?I am excited to receive an award for the Best Engagement App at the 2ndAsian Customer Engagement Forum & Awards. The app provides an entire new way for me to communicate with my fans and give them a new and unique content experience! I am really thankful to ZengaTV and OneDigital team to have closely worked with me in creating something which is loved by my fans and helping me stay in touch with my fans. ?
The award winning Sunny Leone application is available for all iOS, windows and android mobile and Tab users. Fans can download this free of cost from iTunes App Store for iPhone/ iPad and Google Play for android users and windows store for windows users.
While the idea was big, the challenge was to create a first of its kind app, bridging the gap between the celebrity and fans. This app offers opportunity for her fans to stay in touch with her through live interactions apart from new videos, images and wallpaper on Sunny Leone. The integrated approach adopted by our team for the web and mobile TV led to the great success of the Zenga App, while the team also works on building direct engagement with fans through her Facebook, YouTube channel and ZengaTV channel. It?s a great feeling to win an award particularly because it recognizes our innovative approach that the brand stands for in each area, be it in product development or marketing. Kudos to the team for bringing this honour and setting an example in taking customer engagement to the next level? said ZengaTV & OneDigital Entertainment MD & CTO Shabir Momin. -
IDOS 2014: Alternative platforms eye growth in phase III and IV of digitisation
29 Sep 2014
MUMBAI: With digitisation being delayed for phase III and IV of digitisation, alternative platforms such as HITS and OTT will see their importance rising. Speaking on the growth of alternative video platforms were Doordarshan deputy director general CK Jain, IMCL MD and CEO Tony D’silva, JAINHITS MD Ankur Jain and Zenga TV MD and CTO Shabir Momin moderated by indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari and Media Partners Asia executive director Vivek Couto.
Couto started off by asking how the digitisation delay will impact DD’s DTH service Freedish to which CK Jain responded by saying that it won’t hurt Freedish or DD much because most of DD’s audience is in phase III and IV markets. “There are still many households that don’t yet have a TV set but I’m sure that the new households are likely to have DD Freedish as the connection or our upcoming DVB T2 service. So even if we lose out on some numbers, we will most likely make them up with the new ones,” he said.
Ankur Jain was then asked to explain a bit about his HITS model to which he highlighted that JAINHITS has 253 services out of which 140 are free to air (FTA) for which no subscription is charged. However, the road wasn’t easy for them. He said that most broadcasters refused to give content on the pretext of geo fencing and piracy. “It took six months of TDSAT and High Court. But we still have one of the highest content rates in the industry as most of them are on RIO which we subsidise for our partners,” he said.
JAINHITS has signed up with nearly 300 partners in 240 districts that have an analogue base of 2.7 million customers. As far as digitisation delay is concerned, Ankur Jain said, “The Minister had started making noise around the delay a while before it was announced and indiantelevision.com wrote the first story on it and it spread like wildfire. But we haven’t seen any real change in business volumes, demand for STBs, headends etc.”
According to him, this model acts like an aggregator for the smaller operator and for bigger ones, an opportunity to reach smaller markets where they don’t have fibre or reach. When questioned about the challenges a HITS operator has to face, Ankur Jain said that it was the pressure to keep STB cost low. But eventually, it was seen that the STB that was sold to the LCO at Rs 2300 was being sold by the LCO to the customer either at Rs 2300 or Rs 2500. “The cable guy was cribbing that we would make him bankrupt. But they have the money and ability to talk to consumers and in most cases, they market the price up and sell it,” he pointed out.
Mindset is also an issue while dealing with content companies because some of them want average revenue per user (ARPU) to go up while some want to selectively distribute and keep ARPU low and charge good rates.
On the other hand, D’silva feels that the Hinduja ideology for launching HITS is different. “One of the major issues of phase I and II was that we aren’t getting fair share. The reason why we are looking at HITS is to bring order in disorder and we are spending considerable money to upgrade and take this network itself up,” he said. Content, however, remains an issue but according to him the way forward is to take content and make universal bundles.
D’silva claims that for cable operators nearly 60 to 65 per cent of revenue comes from phase I and II, which is about 30 million with another 100 million lying in phase III and IV. With this, bundling dynamics will have to change. The Hinduja HITS model is looking at launching prepaid from the first day along with services such as VAS, TV Everywhere etc. “It is not about delaying or advancing digitisation. It is whether we make the same mistakes or learn from it,” he said.
He also said that he isn’t convinced about digitisation being mandated solely to increase ARPU as according to him ARPU is a function of the derivatives that are put in.
Addressing Momin, Couto asked him to highlight a bit about the digital model. Momin started off by saying that digital has always been taken either as a threat or as inconsequential. “We are building for a leapfrog future. I have to worry about 19 formats (devices). Our advantage is lack of hierarchy leading to more growth,” he said.
The dynamics of digital is different where success is measured by minutes watched. Momin says that for digital platform, the important thing is to establish reach through good content. “I run two companies, Zenga TV and One Digital, both of them PAT positive. Sitting in India, we have a global platform with about 40 per cent revenue coming from international which has only 10 per cent viewership because their CPM rates are higher,” he said.
Couto asked whether advertising revenue from India was sufficient and if it was coming out of TV and whether this will lead to a subscription based model for OTT anytime soon. Momin feels that the last few years have seen content makers rip people off by giving low quality product, thereby losing trust. “Very few people will say that I don’t want to look at an ad, I want to pay for quality content,” he said while stating that brand integration was an important means of revenue.
Momin said that brands that were spending about Rs 50 lakh last year are now spending Rs 3 crore to Rs 3.5 crore but the important thing is brands mandating agencies to look at digital more. As far as ad rates are concerned, they aren’t the best in the world because of lack of good ad formats.
Coming to an end to the session, Couto asked the HITS players to highlight their value in the ecosystem. Ankur Jain said that JAINHITS is helping digital India plan, DOCSIS and two way cable be a reality while D’silva said that broadband would be a success when entertainment is added as an important quotient to ‘roti, kapda aur makaan’. -
Testing the product for customer acceptance
07 Aug 2014
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXNGp2a3LSo -
What is a minimal viable product?
06 Aug 2014
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1RMlG8XnfA -
Sanjeev Kapoor cooks up a storm on You Tube
09 April 2014
New Delhi, April 09, 2014: Sanjeev Kapoor the celebrity chef created a new landmark by crossing 300,000 subscribers and 100 million views on You Tube making him the India's largest individual channel. Sanjeev Kapoor has been always up the curve on technology and yet again has proved that in spite of coming from a niche space like food he can rule the digital medium. Sanjeev Kapoor has partnered with ZengaTV and One Digital Entertainment to manage his digital properties.
The innovative FOODFOOD mobile app not only gives users the opportunity to watch delicious dishes being prepared live on television but also prepare them at home. The app contains recipes of all the shows from the TV channel and website. The app also contains video recipes from the chefs and stars of FOODFOOD, as well as simple tips and advice.
One Digital Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., the largest MCN (multi-channel network) for YouTube in India is managing content strategy, audience development and planning for Sanjeev Kapoor's YouTube Channel. On this occasion of success and his birthday on the 10th April, Zenga Media Pvt. Ltd which owns his YouTube rights, has decided to release Official YouTube Video Mobile App of Sanjeev Kapoor. This app offers opportunity to his fans to stay in touch with him through live interactions apart from new recipe videos, images of Sanjeev Kapoor, fans will be able to use this app to stay socially connected with Sanjeev through Facebook, Twitter and Fun2shoot.
Commenting on the App, Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor said, "I have received an overwhelming response from my fans on my You Tube India channel. This provides an entire new way for me to communicate with my fans and give them a new and unique content experience! I had a great deal of fun working with the Zenga team in customizing and extending the YouTube channel and social media in to an app and really appreciate this collaboration and giving my fans another way to follow my cooking and stay connected to me. This inspiring app gives everyone the chance to learn and practice a whole range of skills as well as providing hours of cooking that can be enjoyed by the whole family."
Commenting on the partnership and launch of new app, Mr. Abhishek Joshi, CEO-Zenga Media Pvt. Ltd, said "We have different strategy and attitude on different platforms customizing it to what works best on the given platform to celebrities. We attribute the growth of numbers to the content created for the platform. We kept innovating on the properties and changed strategy from time to time to keep the users engaged and interested."
He further adds Sanjeev Kapoor app gives users a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his lifestyle. Zenga's comprehensive mobile platform and unique app development solutions, provides a new channel for fans to directly engage with Sanjeev Kapoor, while building brand loyalty and increasing his digital audience. Zenga has exclusively partnered with OneDigtal for all the Youtube distribution through their MCN network, as they are the experts in this space.
Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Gurpreet Singh, COO of OneDigital Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. said "We have been in the original content creation space for more than a year now and managing over 70+ artists and Sanjeev Kapoor is one of our favorite. We create innovative content and concepts for today's digital audience. It's great to work with Sanjeev Kapoor as he understands the power of Digital Platforms and is open to experiment with it."
He further adds Digital medium has grown to be the epicenter of marketing and communication across all brands and celebrities. Since our launch a year back, One Digital has been connecting fans to their favorite icons/ celebrities in an effective and exciting manner. We are humbled on our association with Sanjeev Kapoor and we look forward to a committed and an exciting endeavor with him. Our expertise in Digital Space will ensure that we continue exploring path breaking initiatives and add value to our clients. The application is available for all IOS, Windows and Android mobile and Tab users. Fans can download this free of cost from iTunes App Store for iPhone/ iPad and Google Play for Android users and Windows store for Windows users.
About Zenga Zenga is a Free Digital Video service that presents a range of Indian and international TV channels like News, kids content, Music videos, Movies in Hindi, English, Telugu, Bengali, Oriya,Punjabi, Kannada etc which can be accessed through PC, Tablets, mobile phone (whether smart or featured) and plays through your resident media player. Zenga users can enjoy movies from Hollywood or watch genre- based content from all over the world.
About Sanjeev Kapoor Masterchef Sanjeev Kapoor is first and the biggest name in the Indian food domain with his presence through various ventures including his 24 hour TV channel FoodFood in a joint venture with Astro and Mogae Digital. His website sanjeevkapoor.com is the foremost reference point on food and cooking. Through his company SK Restaurants he runs over 50 restaurants world wide under brands Signature by Sanjeev Kapoor, SuraVie, Options by Sanjeev Kapoor, The Yellow Chilli, and Khazana. His venture Wonderchef, not only empowers women through power of cooking but also is foremost brand in premium kitchenware. He has authored over 150 cooking books with over 10 millions copies sold. His social media outreach is one of the largest in the world when it comes to professionals in the field of food and cooking.
About One Digital Entertainment One Digital is the largest MCN for the YouTube in India and also distributes over iTunes and other digital platforms like Zenga. One Digital is in the business of syndicating, creating original content, programming and strategizing content positing in the digital space for the new age user content consumption. One Digital works with brands to create content integrated with brands for better user engagement. One Digital's video channel network includes top artists Yo Yo Honey Singh, Sunny Leone, Sanjeev Kapoor, Jazzy Bee, Anubhav Sinha. -
Zenga partners with FOOD FOOD and launches its App
12 Feb 2014
New Delhi, February 12, 2014: FOODFOOD the No 1 Food and Lifestyle channel and ZengaTV, India,s largest Digital video and mobile TV platform announce an exclusive strategic partnership for their TV channel by a newly launched mobile app. With this partnership, FOODFOOD content, both live and VOD, is now available free to mobile phone and web users globally, on Zenga TV's superior, seamless, non-buffering mobile & Web TV service.
The innovative FOODFOOD mobile app not only gives users the opportunity to watch delicious dishes being prepared live on television but also prepare them at home. The app contains recipes of all the shows from the TV channel and website. The app also contains video recipes from the chefs and stars of FOODFOOD, as well as simple tips and advice.
Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Abhishek Joshi, CEO, Zenga TV, said, "In India's fast growing and competitive market, there is an ardent need for new technologies that help in engaging customers. We focus our research and developments in the mobile space to enable companies enhance their efficiency, audience engagement and customer satisfaction. With the FOODFOOD app, Zenga goes one step ahead in ensuring that we continue showcasing content which is unique and relevant for our viewers. This partnership will ensure that the viewers can now continue to watch and access the channel, even while on the move. We will continue to build such apps which will give ‘real’ benefits to the customers & viewers."
Mr. S K Barua, of FOOD FOOD, said "We at FOODFOOD India are infusing cutting edge technology into our products and services, which has been our single minded focus. This innovative app is yet another pioneering achievement. With this strategic partnership we are delighted that with the appwe can showcase all our shows and Video on Demand with intelligent features, including access of live TV.We received overwhelming feedback to our efforts to make FOODFOOD an online brand. The app will help us reach a larger audience through tablet and mobile phone customers who trust the FOODFOOD brand, but want a solution that caters to their lifestyle on the move."
The application is available for all IOS, Windows and Android mobile and Tab users. Fans can download this free of cost from iTunes App Store for iPhone/ iPad and Google Play for Android users and Windows store for Windows users.
About FOODFOOD FOODFOOD is a joint venture between Asia's leading cross-media group, Astro Overseas Limited (Astro), Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor and Mogae Consultants. Astro Overseas Limited, the international business unit of Malaysia based Astro Holdings SB, an integrated multi-media group with interests in pay-TV, radio and traditional and digital content production, aggregation and distribution across Asia, Australia and the Middle East. FOODFOOD Channel was conceptualized by Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, the most celebrated face of Indian cuisine today, TV show host, author of bestselling cookbooks, restaurant consultant, architect of unique range of food products and winner of numerous awards. Turmeric Vision intends to become India’s first Food Content Company that will create Food Content and Food Entertainment Brands to be distributed through multiple platforms like Television, Web, Mobile etc. Mogae Consultants is a diverse group with interests in advertising, media and online businesses. Mogae are JV partners with Dentsu Inc., the world’s largest ad agency, in the Middle East. Till recently, Mogae were 26% partners in Dentsu’s India operations. Mogae- owned Last Minute Media, a JV entity for remnant media selling, with Star TV, Zee TV and the TOI Group as partners. Indian Fantasy League, the pioneer in online gaming is another Mogae JV with the TOI Group. -
Zenga launches new age Celebrity Fan engagement App first official Sunny Leone Mobile Apps released
16 Jan 2014
New Delhi, January 16, 2014: Zenga Media Pvt. Ltd which is the exclusive rights holder of Sunny Leone in India, has launched Sunny Leone's official mobile app, the most searched celebrity for the last 3 years in a row. First of its kind bridging celebrity and fans, this app offers opportunity to her fans to stay in touch with her through live interactions apart from new videos, images and wallpaper on Sunny Leone. Fans will be able to use this app to stay socially connected with Sunny through Facebook , Twitter and Fun2shoot .
"It is based on the fact that people are increasingly spending time away from their desktop devices and getting more engaged with handheld devices like smart phones and tablets that Zenga Media decided to look closely at helping celebrities reach out to their fan base via mobile apps."says Abhishek Joshi, CEO, ZengaTV. "We are very pleased and proud to be working with a talented celebrity like Sunny Leone to mark the start of this mission! Zenga's comprehensive mobile marketing platform and unique app development solutions, provides a new channel for Sunny Leone to directly engage with fans, while building brand loyalty and increasing her digital audience".
Beyond the engagement factor, another good reason for a celebrity to have a mobile app is to provide a more convenient way for fans to keep up-to-date with their favorite celebrity's activities on the numerous social media platforms.
On the launch of mobile app, Sunny Leone said "I have received an overwhelming response from my fans in a short span since the app's launch. This provides an entire new way for me to communicate with my fans and give them a new and unique content experience! I had a great deal of fun working with the Zenga Media in customizing my app and really appreciate this collaboration and giving my fans another way to follow my life and acting career."
The following features are offered through the app: Sunny's Personal Gallery Exclusive access to Sunny photos, video and wallpaper, giving fans -an exclusive look into her life. Wakeup with Sunny: Users get a choice of videos that can be set as "wake up alarms" or "reminder" videos through the app. Fan Zone: Users can access Sunny Official Updates from Facebook & Twitter. Contests: Fans will have an opportunity to watch her videos and participate in contests that are planned through the year. Closest of all fans get to participate in premium events. Points earned get them "Closer to Sunny": a section in app that will allow users to check points gained and how close they are to their favorite celebrity. Mr. Shabir Momin, MD & CTO, ZengaTV said "These days, we can expect a celebrity to have a Facebook account, a Twitter account, a blog and a YouTube channel. But for fans, it can be a hassle visiting so many different sites. A one-stop solution can come in the form of a neat mobile app which collects the various resources and combines them into one tidy little package for easy and convenient access. Sunny Leone app has some special features and engagement mechanisms and I am sure the fans will love it."
The application is available for all IOS , Windows and Android mobile and Tab users. Fans can download this free of cost from iTunes App Store for iPhone/ iPad and Google Play for Android users and Windows store for Windows users. -
ZengaTV MD & CTO Shabir Momin Wins TiE-Lumis Partners Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards 2013
09 Oct 2013
TiE Lumis announced Shabir Momin, MD & CTO-ZengaTV, as the winner of Entrepreneurship Excellence award 2013 in New Delhi. This award was instituted by TiE Delhi- NCR & Lumis Partners in 2008. He bagged the award after the rigorous scrutiny from the 150+ entries and the selection was based on the business strategy, competitiveness, business scalability & potential and financial stability of the business.
Speaking at the awards ceremony Shabir Momin, Founder-MD & CTO, ZengaTV said, “While it’s a great honor and humbling to be singled out for an award. I’ve always seen building a company as a team sport, and I have my fellow co-founder, amazing management staff and everyone at ZengaTV to thank for this recognition. It also reinforces our own entrepreneurial zeal and passion for building a world-class digital entertainment sitting out of India.”
He further added “In our business we have developed global market-based mechanisms to achieve the desired outcomes and, whilst not perfect, the responsibilities we have to our employers and clients should not overshadow our need to develop markets responsibly and ethically”.
Geetika Dayal, Evecutive Director, TiE Delhi NCR adds, “The idea of these awards instituted 6 years ago, was to discover path-breaking ideas that are transforming into great businesses and are potentially sustainable. To promote such companies by combining TiE network and mentoring support with Lumis Partners’ acumen. It is heartening to see how the winners each year are showing unprecedented promise”.
Zenga’s unique 2.5G technology works on delivering the best possible mobile TV experience optimized for the type of the device and the kind of network being used. Zenga’s mission is to bring Interactive, Collaborative, On Demand, and Informative Entertainment into the hands of mobile, tablet and web users in an optimized and is a free service to the end user. -
Zenga TV has high growth ambitions in the mobile TV segment
27 Aug 2013
Everybody yearns for a big-bang entry when they start off their career. The same can be said about Zenga TV which decided to take the path one would rarely tread upon.
At a time when most of the mobile TV platforms were approaching mobile operators to be carried, Zenga TV offered the first free ‘live TV‘ service in the country. People scoffed and laughed but two years after a debut with IPL 2009, serving seven million viewers in over 140 countries, the company has turned profitable. Now, after adding more than 150 channels and 18,000 movies to its kitty, the platform will soon be venturing into delivering original content in 52 genres.
Out of these, production in four genres namely fashion, styling, comedy, fashion and cooking will be done by Zenga, itself while the rest will be aggregated from all over the world such as music, gaming, extreme sports, travel and other fashion. "These four genres need localisation," says Zenga TV founder, MD and CTO Shabir Momin.
A technologist all his life, Momin and his friend Vikramjiet Ray invested about six to seven million dollars into this venture which started reaping profits within two years. Industry sources put it at anywhere between Rs 2-3 crore per annum.
Starting off at a time when the minimum bandwidth was 20-25 kbps in India as compared to 78 kbps in other parts of the world, they developed a code to provide live streaming at 2.5G and at this low bandwidth. Even though 3G is being promoted, only 10 percent of Zenga TV‘s users are 3G users. The arrival of 4G will only enhance the picture quality, according to Momin.
Zenga TV has a long list of Indian channels as well as 30 international ones which are genre specific. However, 70 per cent of the traffic comes from movies while 30 per cent from channels out of which Aaj Tak, Pogo, 9xm are some of the popular ones. Animated content being in the top ten has surprised even those at Zenga TV. Some of the other channels it streams live are NDTV Profit, Raj News Kannada, Focus TV, Big Magic, 9XM, Sahara filmy.
One of the news channels on the portal which wished to remain unnamed said that two years ago when they got into a deal with Zenga TV it helped it because it targeted non-smartphone users, even though it had an application of its own. However, its expectations from the association has been only ‘just met‘ and in order to have more control from its side it is looking at revaluating the contract and seek more opportunities outside of Zenga TV.
"Zenga TV is not very viable because broadcasters do not want to lose big money from their DTH and cable operators who may object to live streaming for free on the internet at the same time making money on advertising," says media consultant Sanjeev Hiremath. This could be why Star, Zee, Sony etc are not part of the bouquet but are available on its competitors Ditto TV and Apalya. Demand for these channels is there; according to Momin, but since there is no ROI for it and so he opted to not negotiate with them. To date a 50:50 revenue share is maintained with all its channels. Market estimates varied from approximately Rs 25,000 to Rs 7-8 lakh per channel. "I would rather give you exciting and intriguing content which is cost effective for me as well," states Momin.
Speaking in terms of demographics, 45 per cent of viewership comes from rural India while 35 per cent comes from urban cities, Delhi and Mumbai being the larger chunk of it; the rest from tier II cities. Local retailers propose a data plan to customers which will let them watch free TV on mobile. This benefits the customers as a lot of times electricity isn‘t available to watch TV and the plan is approximately Rs 200 a month. It also means customers coming back to them every month.
The time when most traffic is on it is from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The average time span is 10 minutes per view and six to eight views per month each amounting to 250 million views per month. And is a male dominated area wherein 70 per cent viewers are men. The target group is 13 to 65 years but a majority of the viewers are the young audience between 18 to 35 years. About 85 per cent of viewers are from India while UK, US and UAE keep juggling in the top three spot from the international countries.
It has an automatic system that adds servers to tackle unexpected increase in traffic, when it isn‘t manned and when traffic goes down, it automatically kills the servers. From two, the team now consists of 55 to 60 people in Delhi and Mumbai with an attrition rate of just 0.5 per cent most of the team being freshers who are brimming with ideas. Momin who was formerly the CEO, gave way to Abhishek Joshi to be the CEO in July 2012, marking the beginning of the Mumbai office. Bangalore and Kolkata are the next expansion destinations.
At inception it was available on Windows, Android and iOS while Symbian 60 was added recently. Anybody with a browser could view. Everything is cloud based with seven Amazon servers across the world. It was only in 2012 that the app was created. Momin maintains that an app will not be made for Blackberry phones. It has over 10,000 fans on its Facebook page.
Zenga TV works purely on advertising with more than 60 brands currently, most of them from India. It got its break when it bagged Pepsi during its telecast of IPL 2009. Cadbury, Red Bull, Aditya Birla, Fiat are some of the other brands it has deals with. Both video and banner ads are present but what is prevalent more is video ads that are either pre roll or mid roll. Industry sources put the CPT for a video ad at Rs 300- 350 and a banner ad at Rs 180-190. The annual revenue would be around Rs 13-14 crore per annum. Just like on television, depending on the customer‘s brand campaign the ads can be modified such as L-shaped ads or bugs. It can also be targeted based on content, channel and geography. A team of five works on ad sales.
Media planners seem to be skeptical despite Zenga TV‘s claims. Ignitee digital media planner Saurav Kumar says that it is a good advertising platform if the client is targeting mobile phone customers. However, he adds that mobile phone commerce is still at a very nascent stage. "There is not much ROI on mobile advertising," points out Kumar. Lodestar Universal vice president Deepak Netram believes that Zenga TV is yet to gain critical mass but as an add-on, it is a great platform available.
Money spent on mobile advertising is just five to ten per cent of the total as of now and the only way an increase can be seen is when the coverage of 3G increases and the price of 3G subscription decreases. In a mobile TV market of 30 million dollars, Momin claims Zenga TV owns about 60 per cent of it. "If you ask me, mobile TV advertising is the future," says Hiremath.
Momin stated that he had initially approached mobile operators, which was the custom around 2007 but the business model was hitting a negative end for him so he decided to set up his own brand and connect directly with the users. It could have been a risky stance, but he decided to be his own master than be someone‘s slave (in this case the operators). "We are the only profitable company in this space. All the others are more than fifty points negative," he claims. "Most of my competitors work for operators," he says. Had Zenga TV decided to go the same way they wouldn‘t have been able to control price point.
Apparently, not a single penny goes into marketing Zenga TV and everything was done by word-of-mouth. More than 50 per cent of users tend to come back and Momin attributes it to the fact that they have no system of registration or forcefulness.
Changes have also come about since then. To increase content discovery, a search bar and index were added. Some football sports are being reviewed but only half of sports content is financially viable for it.
Consumption patterns have changed from channel specific to genre specific viewership. Predictions are that the current space of mobile TV advertising is about Rs 150 crore and in two years time it is set to multiply to Rs 3,000 crore due to better network. Zenga TV sets itself a target of doubling its viewership, profit and revenue and for the last three years they‘ve surpassed their own predictions.
As for the future, Momin says he might think of raising investors or IPO someday but he will not give up ownership of the company. "I didn‘t want to have investors initially because they have their POV and they drive it in a way you may not want to," he says.
There is a general feeling that digital is the way forward. Zenga TV has achieved some success but still stays relatively unknown. In Momin‘s words, "Those who don‘t know Zenga TV don‘t use Zenga TV." -
Zenga TV has high growth ambitions in the mobile TV segment
27 Aug 2013
Q. What’s unique about Zenga TV?
A. Zenga is unique in the sense that it works on cellular networks that comply with 2.5G and higher standards. We also the biggest bouquet of content, which is free. Besides, you don’t need to download an app in order to enjoy services offered by us. Zenga supports the largest number of handsets, and it also works on Symbian S40 devices as well.
Q. Would Zenga be unique with the advent of 3G for cellular telephony, and users accessing web pages on their devices?
A. Consumption of content will be better with 3G. Since we support streaming on 2G, services will be unaffected. Also, data is far more affordable over 2G networks. We have the largest user base and our unique technology and good content combination being free will continue to be a winner.
Q. What led you to start Zenga TV? Tell us a bit about the business.
A. We believe video is here to stay, and would continue to grow for at least the next 10-15 years. Getting in to video streaming with video clips and considering that other forms of video content weren’t piracy safe, We thought of only getting in to this if we could build a technology which can deliver quality video at very low bandwidth. This is what we achieved and then decided to come to market.
Q. How do you compress videos to level sufficient to stream them over 2G networks?
A. We have our own technology and we have the capability to compress and enhance the video at the same time to be able to stream even at bandwidths as low as 20kbps.
Q. Could you explain the technology at the basic level? and how the various blocks work together?
A. We downlink the live stream and decode it and then encode it with our encoder and then stream it with our streaming server. we do not need an app as we can stream on the browser.
Q. Could you tell us about the infrastructure in place, behind Zenga’s services?
A. We use Cloud compute ( Amazon) and are located on multi location and at the same time have a 100% uptime and extremely scalable. we can scale to 100s of server in seconds and deliver in any part of the world.
Q. At the architecture level, what are the areas you expect to see rapid growth in the next year? Would you consider 3G a failure in India, and rather rely on LTE services for better traction in mobile value added services?
A. Not much of architectural changes expected as we are agnostics to most of the new or old technology. 3G is definitely a failure, LTE is a potential hope but depends how it is played out. Reliance story of how they got the phones to India, if the same can be repeated for LTE will he a huge success.
Q. Have you developed apps for individual platforms on the consumer side, or do you rather prefer a cross platform development tool?
A. We do not have apps, we can stream over the browser and thus have higher handset compatibility. But having said that we have still build simple launchers and basic apps too which are for user convenience but for only Android and iPhone.
Q. What is the fastest growing platform among mobile users? Do you see a trend there?
A. At present it looks like Android, but I see that Windows can emerge as a challenge to them. The cost factor will matter though.
Q. What about tablets? Is video consumption increasing? Are you satisfied with the growth?
A. Yes, tablets are definitely contributing towards the increase in consumption of videos and games. Overall, I am satisfied, but look forward to even more growth in the future.
Q. Do you see newer businesses emerging in this space?
A. Yes this is just the beginning we will see lot of new things and changes and competition in this space. We will also see new revenue streams in time to come and batter and newer ways of monetisation.
Q. What are the exciting opportunities you see for mobile developers in India?
A. Developer will become the direct connect to consumers in time to come and a lot of direct revenue realization for developer will start happening. Lot of large companies will become facilitators for developers in the future. -
Zenga TV bags Mobile rights for US Open Tennis Championship 2013
27 Aug 2013
New Delhi, India, August 27, 2013: - Zenga TV, India\92s largest mobile TV platform announced that they have bagged the exclusive rights for 2013 US Open Tennis Championship that will be played from August 26 to September 9 for India. This event is licensed by Zenga Media Pvt Ltd from Seven3Sports who has licensed it from Ten Sports. Besides cricket, tennis is probably the most widely watched sports in the country. With this initiative, over 22 million users of Zenga TV can watch live tennis action on their mobile device and listen to live commentary as well. With unmatched streaming quality that doesn\92t buffer at crucial moments, this service will be completely free of charge except for the data consumption charges.
Mr. Abhishek Joshi, CEO, Zenga TV, said, \93U.S. Open is the final grand slam of the year that has millions of ardent fans around the world glued to their TV sets thereby restricting their mobility. Our mobile streaming of the tournament is intended to give you the freedom to watch the action live and on the go. Our constant endeavor to fulfill viewer\92s requirements has helped us emerge as a pioneer and a market leader. This initiative adds up to the many milestones Zenga TV has achieved in a short span of time. At this point of time, I am delighted to announce that there are hordes of surprises in store for our viewers in the coming months\94.
Mr.Shabir Momiin, MD & CTO, Zenga TV.com, said, \93Unlike other mobile TV live 3G applications that do video streaming from internet in real time, we ensure good live streaming because the cloud computing database airs the content. This is one of the major plus points of our application. At present, we have over 224 million video views per month. I am sure this initiative will not only increase the number of visitors to our site but will further enhance our company\92s popularity and repute\94.
Mr. Jatin Ahluwalia, CEO, Seven 3 Sports Said \93We are delighted to partner with a Zenga TV to power US Open in the mobility space. Zenga is a very progressive and innovative company and our association with them is in line with Seven3Sports "Multi-Platform Approach" to provide an outstanding end -user experience and enable millions of fans stay connected with the game.
itvoice Zenga TV, India\92s largest mobile TV platform announced that they have bagged the exclusive rights for 2013 US Open Tennis Championship that will be played from August 26 to September 9 for India. This event is licensed by Zenga Media Pvt Ltd from Seven3Sports who has licensed it from Ten Sports. Besides cricket, tennis is probably the most widely watched sports in the country. With this initiative, over 22 million users of Zenga TV can watch live tennis action on their mobile device and listen to live commentary as well. With unmatched streaming quality that doesn\92t buffer at crucial moments, this service will be completely free of charge except for the data consumption charges. For watching live tennis matches on a mobile device, new users have to download Zenga application on their mobile or simply visit: https://m.zengatv.com. The tennis matches will remain available also after the matches.
Mr. Abhishek Joshi, CEO, Zenga TV, said, \93U.S. Open is the final grand slam of the year that has millions of ardent fans around the world glued to their TV sets thereby restricting their mobility. Our mobile streaming of the tournament is intended to give you the freedom to watch the action live and on the go. Our constant endeavor to fulfill viewer\92s requirements has helped us emerge as a pioneer and a market leader. This initiative adds up to the many milestones Zenga TV has achieved in a short span of time. At this point of time, I am delighted to announce that there are hordes of surprises in store for our viewers in the coming months\94.
Mr.Shabir Momiin, MD & CTO, Zenga TV.com, said, \93Unlike other mobile TV live 3G applications that do video streaming from internet in real time, we ensure good live streaming because the cloud computing database airs the content. This is one of the major plus points of our application. At present, we have over 224 million video views per month. I am sure this initiative will not only increase the number of visitors to our site but will further enhance our company\92s popularity and repute\94.
Mr. Jatin Ahluwalia, CEO, Seven 3 Sports Said \93We are delighted to partner with a Zenga TV to power US Open in the mobility space. Zenga is a very progressive and innovative company and our association with them is in line with Seven3Sports \93Multi-Platform Approach\94 to provide an outstanding end -user experience and enable millions of fans stay connected with the game.
Ziddom New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS): Mobile TV channel Zenga TV Tuesday bagged the exclusive rights for the final tennis major of the year, US Open, which is currently being played in New York. The event is being licensed by Zenga Media Pvt. Ltd. from Seven3Sports, who has licensed it from Ten Sports.
Indiastudychannel Are you a tennis lover and searching for the online streaming and live telecast on television channels of US Open tennis tournament - 2013? The Indian leading Mobile tv platform, Zenga tv is going to telecast live online streaming on mobile phones and Ten sports are going to live telecast on television channels. Go through this article to get details of live telecast, schedule, venue, prize money and updates related to US Open tennis -2013.
Mediavataar Zenga TV, India\92s largest mobile TV platform announced today that. Besides cricket, tennis is probably the most widely watched sports in the country. With this initiative, over 6 million users of Zenga TV can watch ball by ball live tennis action on their computer screens and listen to live commentary as well. Under these rights, Zenga will also power the Live Youtube streaming of French Open. This event is licensed by Zenga Media Pvt Ltd from Seven3Sports who has licensed it from Neo Sports. However, they have taken the non-exclusive rights for French open for web in India.
Mr. Abhishek Joshi, CEO, Zenga TV, said, \93This is indeed a proud moment for all of us. This initiative adds up to the many milestones Zenga TV has achieved in a short span of time. Our constant endeavor to fulfill viewer\92s requirements has helped us to emerge as a pioneer and a market leader. At this point of time, I am delighted to announce that there are hordes of surprises in store for our viewers in the coming months\94. Mr.Shabir Momiin, MD & CTO, ZengaTV said, \93We always keep looking for ways to bring more and more content for our users in all possible different verticals. This is one such effort which will let users enjoy live streaming of the French open on ZengaTV.com\94 -
Lufthansa Runway to success Episode 1 Shabir Momin
15 Jul 2013
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z04lgBeMps -
The journey of ZengaTV towards a full fledged mobile TV company In talks with Abhishek Joshi, CEO, ZengaTV
27 June 2013
India's largest mobile and web TV platform Zenga TV, has tied up with actress Sunny Leone. All the latest updates and videos of the actress will be exclusively CINE available on this TV BUZZ platform. As .en' today, Zenga TV has a subscriber base of twenty two million users. The team of Zenga will update latest news, views, gossips, videos, images andblogs of the star as an when it happens. The actress's public appearances, stage shows and film shootings can be now enjoyed by her fans, either from the comfort of home/Office or when travelling. This is the first of its deal in India. • DBSN
Zenga TV to offer exclusive Sunny Leone digital content to its subscribers (Rooster) Live TV and video-on-demand service Zenga TV has acquired the digital rights for Bollywood actress Sunny Leone. Zenga TV’s 22 million users will now get access to all the exclusive news and videos of the actress in her new “avatar”. At the announcement Leone said, “I am excited to work with Zenga Media exclusively after realizing that they are pioneers in the space and will help me connect with my fans more closely through the digital medium.” Zenga TV subscribers will be able to access the latest news, gossips, exclusive videos of the actress endorsing brands and behind-the-scene rehearsals as and when they happen. Regarding the partnership Zenga TV’s Shabir Momiin said, “Sunny is a global star and is followed by millions globally. Our engagement with her will be many fold and we will be making efforts in bringing her closer to her fans through her different activities. The audience will also see her in many new avatars.” In addition to Zenga TV, all the digital content will also be available on Sunny Leone’s YouTube channel.
Zenga TV now has exclusive rights to Sunny Leone (niticentral) All the latest updates of Sunny Leone and her videos will now be available exclusively only on Zenga TV, India’s largest mobile and Web tv platform. With Zenga TV bagging the exclusive digital rights for Sunny Leone, their 22 million users will now get unlimited access to the latest news, views, gossip, videos, images, and video blogs of the star as and when it happens. The popular actor’s public appearances, brand endorsements, rehearsals for stage shows, film shooting can all be enjoyed from the comfort of your home & on the move. This initiative adds up to the many milestones Zenga TV has achieved in a short span of time. The company believes that their constant endeavor to fulfill their viewer’s requirements has helped them to emerge as a pioneer and a market leader in their space.
I am excited to work with Zenga Media exclusively after realizing that they are pioneers in the space and will help me connect with my fans more closely through the digital medium, Sunny leone.
Abhishek Joshi, CEO, Zenga TV, said, “Sunny Leone’s fan following spans across continents and so does our viewer base. This is indeed a proud moment for all of us. Each and every initiative of the Zenga TV reflects the high levels of commitment we have towards our viewers. This is just the beginning of the many milestones the company will be achieving in the near future”.
Zenga TV bags exclusive digital rights for Sunny Leone (samachar)
This initiative adds up to the many milestones Zenga TV has achieved in a short span of time.
All the latest updates of Sunny Leone and her videos will now be available exclusively only on Zenga TV, India’s largest mobile and WEB TV platform. With Zenga TV bagging the exclusive digital rights for Sunny Leone, their 22 million users will now get unlimited access to the latest news, views, gossip, videos, images, and video blogs of the star as and when it happens. The popular actor’s public appearances, brand endorsements, rehearsals for stage shows, film shooting can all be enjoyed from the comfort of your home & on the move. This initiative adds up to the many milestones Zenga TV has achieved in a short span of time. The company believes that their constant endeavor to fulfill their viewer’s requirements has helped them to emerge as a pioneer and a market leader in their space. The content will also be available on https://youtube.com/sunnyleone
Sunny Leone, said, “I am excited to work with Zenga Media exclusively after realizing that they are pioneers in the space and will help me connect with my fans more closely through the digital medium.”
Abhishek Joshi, CEO, Zenga TV, said, “Sunny Leone’s fan following spans across continents and so does our viewer base. This is indeed a proud moment for all of us. Each and every initiative of the Zenga TV reflects the high levels of commitment we have towards our burgeoning number of viewers. This is just the beginning of the many milestones the company will be achieving in the near future”.
Shabir Momiin, MD & CTO, Zenga TV.com said, “Sunny is a global star and is followed by Millions globally. Our engagement with her will be many fold and we will be making efforts in bringing her closer to her fans through her different activities. The audience will also see her in many new avatars.” The ability to bring mobile and WEB videos to consumers on low bandwidth, made it reachable to masses, has been the fortay that made Zenga TV popular among cities and consumers having access to low internet bandwidth.
Zenga TV Bags Exclusive Digital Rights For Sunny Leone (boxofficeindia) All the latest updates of Sunny Leone and her videos will now be available exclusively only on Zenga TV, Indian mobile and WEB TV platform. With Zenga TV bagging the exclusive digital rights for Sunny Leone, their 22 million users will now get unlimited access to the latest news, views, gossip, videos, images, and video blogs of the star as and when it happens. The popular actor’s public appearances, brand endorsements, rehearsals for stage shows, film shooting can all be enjoyed from the comfort of your home and on the move. This initiative adds up to the many milestones Zenga TV has achieved in a short span of time. The company believes that their constant endeavor to fulfill their viewer’s requirements has helped them to emerge as a pioneer and a market leader in their space. -
Mobile streaming platform Zenga TV looks to double revenues
20 Apr 2013
MUMBAI: Zenga Media, the mobile and web streaming company, has set itself an ambitious target of doubling its revenues in the current financial year.
Zenga Media, which owns the mobile and web streaming platform Zenga TV, is promoted by former Sony TV executive Shabir Momin and Vikramjiet Roy.
Shabir Momin, the MD and CTO of Zenga TV, says that the company‘s total revenue in the last fiscal was in the region of $2-3 million.
According to Momin, the company has turned RoI (Return on Investment) positive in the last two fiscals and is paying for its own expenses.
"The promoters did not have to infuse funds in the company as it is RoI positive," he adds.
No equity divestment is planned either, rather the aim is to grow the company before exploring fund raising avenues.
Zenga TV is an ad-supported mobile and web streaming platform. It claims to have 22-23 million active users every month. Zenga‘s biggest differentiator, according to Momin, is that it is compatible with even feature phones and the technology is in-house.
The digital streaming platform has content partnerships with the NDTV group, Times Television Network, BAG Network, Reliance Broadcast Network, and Raj TV Network.
However, the big three television networks Star India, Zee Network, and MSM are missing from the platform. The Viacom18 channels too are no longer available on the platform.
"While we don‘t have Star, Zee and Sony, we do have a lot international channels in our offering. Over and above that, we also produce content in various genres for our platform," he avers.
The absence of these powerful networks from Zenga TV means that the platform‘s entertainment bouquet is a a bit of a non-starter.
However, Zenga TV has strong news offering with the presence of NDTV, Times Now, CNBC TV18, Aaj Tak and Headlines Today amongst others.
News is one of the most consumed genres on mobile after entertainment and movies, says Momin. After news, the sports genre has a lot of traction among mobile TV consumers.
However, the cost of acquiring sports rights makes it an unviable proposition to monetise, reveals Momin. After flirting with IPL rights in 2009, Zenga gave it up as it discovered it could not recoup its investments.
"It‘s better to be profitable rather than taking risks with cricket rights," he asserts.
Zenga TV generally does 50-50 revenue share deals with broadcasters which means that its content costs is zilch. However, monetising content through advertisement is still not that easy a task.
Reason: The ad spends on mobile are still very low compared to the kind of reach that it delivers. However, Momin is optimistic. His optimism stems from the predictions that mobile ad spends are expected to grow to Rs 3 billion by 2015 up from the current Rs 1.5 billion.
Zenga TV plans to play the volume game by being a free content platform. Going pay is not a good option as one has to be at the mercy of telecom operators, who dictate terms to platform owners on revenue share, points out Momin. -
Mr. Shabir Momin, Founder & MD, ZengaTV at 1st Jury Round of Aegis Graham Bell Awards 2013
06 Feb 2013
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iM1Nu7w5KQ -
TAV app of the Month
19 Nov 2012
WHAT?
Zenga Media has launched its mobile streaming service that allows users to watch TV programs live on their smartphones.
HOW?
Zenga TV is not the first Mobile TV service but it does get a lot of things right. The streaming is pretty decent over 3G and Wi-fi network as is the clarity of the video. The app allows you to watch a number of channels like DD National, Zoom, Filmy, 9X Music, Headlines Today, NDTV, Aaj Tak, etc. There are also a number of other channels like Scream TV, Joke TV, Cartoons TV, etc., which are very genre-specific, along with a host of regional channels.
WHY?
Zenga TV has a decent collection of channels, though we hope to see some of the more popular channels like HBO and ones from the Star bouquet on the app soon. The navigation is pretty simple and straightforward and you won't have too much trouble looking for what you want. However, a TV guide for the channels would have been ideal but I'm sure it wil be addressed in coming updates. -
Shabir Momin highlights the importance of digital at ad: tech Bangalore
11 Oct 2012
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G5wpY0elFw -
"Is technology making people lazy?"
16 Aug 2012
ZengaTV is one of the providers of TV services for Live TV channels, entertainment, reality shows and news content optimised for viewing on mobile and web screens. The company provides technology based on the type of the device and the kind of network it is utilising. The company’s Managing Director, Shabir Momin shares his likes and dislikes about technology with Weekend Life.
What gadgets do you use?
Well, most of the time I use my cell phone, either a BlackBerry or the Nokia Lumia. I have an infrared key board, glasses with 70MM TV projection, a wafer thin camera and many more such unique tech gadgets which I have been collecting for the last 19 years from all over the world. Oh, can't forget my Sony PlayStation 3, which takes about an hour of my time every night.
What is your latest gadget possession?
Well, the latest project I’m working on is that I am building something in the video space but it’s confidential as of now.
What is your dream machine?
A custom made Ferrari with loads of additional technology.
What do you not like about technology?
I don’t like the fact that it’s a lengthy process to get an IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) to claim ownership over something. Also, I keep thinking all the time that technology is making people lazy and whether it’s being built in order to stay close to nature rather than spoiling it.
What apps or tools do you use personally and for what purpose?
BlackBerry for emails and BlackBerry Messenger. Nokia Lumia for internet access and games. Nokia N900 as a Linux server. And, finally ZengaTV for entertainment.
Biggest tech disaster according to you.
All the innovations that people have taken to such an extent that it has ended up harming the environment.
Biggest tech success according to you.
Artificial limbs and many other such tech innovations, which save life and help people with special needs.
One instance where technology solved your problem.
In today's world, I think almost everything is solved by technology. Whether it is a toaster or a car or phone or laptop or for that matter writing an email. -
Zenga brings TV on mobile at 20-25 kbps of bandwidth
26 Mar 2012
This week, the spot light is on the booming e-commerce business in India. Shabir Momin, CEO of Zenga decided to bet on mobile as the new PC. He launched his company in 2008 with a simple idea � cash in on the opportunities that cricket throws up. Zenga decided to produce the world�s largest cricket app on mobile 'CrickZenga'.
Momin also manages the mobile sites for the IPL and the champion�s league. The company has already done a turnover of Rs 6 crore this year, reports CNBC-TV18�s Shruti Mishra.
The emergence of mobile apps is seen as the next big bet for entrepreneurs and is 34-year old Momin caters to over 700 million mobile user market in India. Focusing on digital entertainment on the mobile, Shabir launched Zenga in 2008 with Rs 10 crore.
He created applications like Zenga TV, a television service on mobile, which has over 6 million users every month. Zenga has also developed CrickZenga with more than 8 million users and Zenga mails, a unique push mail solution for mobile.
Momin pointed out CNBC-TV18, "Currently, we operate at two segments in Zenga. One, we operate services where we create our own technologies like mobile TV service which operates at 2.5G, 3G, 4G, 5G and WiFi as well. Second, we have an e-mail and push mail solution Zenga mail."
"We also have Cricket Companion, which is the cricket score board application. Currently, Cricket Companion is the world�s largest application base. We have about 6.5-7 million users now," he added
Q: What is the unique selling price (USP) of Zenga? What makes it different from the other competitors? Is there any competition?
A: In mobile-TV space, we do not consider the others competition because we use a very different technology than others. Other technology use something like download and play � which cuts a capsule of video, processes it, sends it down to the phone and the video plays.
While it plays, it downloads another capsule of it. If the data connection breaks out because of low bandwidth capabilities, user has to face the buffering and bad experience of it. Whereas, we do a frame on frame real time streaming and users comes across a rich, continues and live experience.
The challenge isn�t about smaller or larger screen, it is more about the experience. Apart from experience, we also bring in a lot of exclusive content like Colors and MTV. We have a capability of injecting ads into the stream just like in TV.
Q: Television on mobile is the next frontier. Moving the focus of entertainment from family to single person, what made you dial into this mobile mania? What kind of opportunity do you see in this nascent sector?
A: There are two aspects to it. First is the affordability of a product. We did our R&D and figured out ways of doing it at the lowest bit rate possible. We can stream it at as low as 20-25 kilobit per second (kbps) of bandwidth, whereas all other competitors worldwide need a minimum of 75 kbps to sustain a live stream. India falls in the bracket of 20-50 kbps of streaming, which is why we do very well on that space.
This gives a lot of affordability for the user because they consume lesser data in the same time that they would have consumed. We are capable of taking some of these programs and putting it on a time frame meant for the mobile�s prime time. We have done the experiments and seen a lot of uptakes happening.
Q: Zenga has successfully managed mobile sites for cricketing properties like IPL and Champions League T20 since 2009. With a 50-50 revenue share with your content partners, you have dialled in over Rs 6 crore revenues this year. How has this partnership worked out for you?
A: There are two aspects to it. First is the affordability of a product. We did our R&D and figured out ways of doing it at the lowest bit rate possible. We can stream it at as low as 20-25 kilobit per second (kbps) of bandwidth, whereas all other competitors worldwide need a minimum of 75 kbps to sustain a live stream. India falls in the bracket of 20-50 kbps of streaming, which is why we do very well on that space.
This gives a lot of affordability for the user because they consume lesser data in the same time that they would have consumed. We are capable of taking some of these programs and putting it on a time frame meant for the mobile�s prime time. We have done the experiments and seen a lot of uptakes happening.
Q: Zenga has successfully managed mobile sites for cricketing properties like IPL and Champions League T20 since 2009. With a 50-50 revenue share with your content partners, you have dialled in over Rs 6 crore revenues this year. How has this partnership worked out for you?
A: We did well from a delivery point of view, but lost money commercially. From the subsequent year, we have been working with BCCI directly and they have been taking our services in managing their website, mobile site, applications and deliveries. These sites are very intense as they are ranked globally every year during the cricket season. We also manage multiple hack attacks.
The relationship is great. Recently, there were bids for IPL, and website and wap-site were kept out of it. Overtime, BCCI has built the confidence that we are the partner who will be able to take this forward.
Q: At present, television hogs most of the cricket lovers� attention. In what time frame can you compete with television?
A: People are already consuming a lot of TV on mobile, whether sports or entertainment. It is surprising that people watch the television daily soap Uttaran on mobile. There is a perception that people might not see daily soaps on mobile, but about 1.5 lakh users watch Uttaran every evening on mobile. It is all about the notional value.
The broadcast medium is very big and has the biggest audience. I don't think we'll ever be able to replace them, but the behaviour pattern and lifestyle of users has been changing as they have lesser time for themselves at home.
Q: What have been your efforts in making this shift happen? Are you putting in more applications so that you get this audience on mobile?
A: First to hire adaptation, and people to realise and adapt, we made it free. India is a very price sensitive market. People don't mind trying anything given for free. The moment it is topped with a lot of price point, people hesitate in trying, even though the service is good. This has been the key adaption mechanism.
Q: What are the packages on offer for this price sensitive Indian audience?
A: All our live TV channels are free. We have certain premium contents for which we charge. For example, movies are charged Rs 10 for 10 days, which is roughly about a rupee a day.
Q: Could you tell us about CrickZenga, one of your most successful applications?
A: CrickZenga was an accident and then, we saw the need of a good application. During the cricket season, everybody tries ways to get the information fastest. We then built a simple application initially and saw a good uptake. Later, we polished it and got it to the best version.
Recently, we have been planning to launch a new social media engaged version of Cricket Companion which will have links up with facebook, etc. You can post your scores and views on facebook, and have a discussion around it.
Q: With 3G coming in, what kind of growth do you see for your business?
A: By the time 3G becomes effective, we will have 4G. Currently, we do have 3G, but we still don't get the right bandwidth. As much as 99% of the market, the land space of India, we don't have a 3G activator as yet and such will be the case for the next one or two years.
Q: Do you think that they are very highly priced and will it be used?
A: It is very highly priced. I don't think people would adapt 3G on a personal pocket level. It's a big barrier to get in and adopt 3G.
Q: With a team of over 100, you have managed to tie up with 21 channels like Colors and MTV. You are now looking to increase your portfolio applications for the coming season. Could you throw some light on that?
A: In the cricket space, Champions League is coming up. We have been looking at several things to grow on the mobile TV space for lot of content side. We should look at MTV wap-site as it will change very soon with a new flavour coming into the market. Choice for a lot of crispy and additional content will increase for the users. A lot of channels and content are available already. We have about 700 odd movies available.
Q: Smart phone sales are on a rise in India. There are over 40 million people who are accessing net over the phone. How do you see VCs taking a note of this kind of an opportunity?
A: VCs have their eyes wide open at this movement. Despite last few years of recession, India is the market to be for VCs. They have been looking at all possible thing like handsets, content providers, service providers or operators in the value chain. VCs look at this very strong. This market will definitely give you multiple fold exits in the next two-three years.
Q: Have you been approached by them?
A: Yes, we have been approached by few VCs, but we have not taken that.
Q: Do you have any plans of raising capital?
A: Yes, but not right now.
Q: What are the future plans with Zenga? Where do you see it five years down the lane?
A: We are looking at a billion dollar valuation.
Q: Do you plan to launch new TV or Radio channels on Zenga?
A: By the end of this year, we should have roughly about 300 odd channels, which cover the whole Indian mass. A lot of international channels and content will also come in, which are not accessible today from India. We will have an authorised licensed to get those contents into India. We will launch a lot of services. We plan to launch a service very soon on the video space. It will be live in about a month or so and will be a big one in 2011. -
Shabir Momin, CEO, Zenga TV
05 Mar 2012
“Zenga has cut down the data requirements to be more cost effective while offering superior bufferless viewing at as low as 12MB for 1 hour of viewing.”
Shabir Momin, CEO, Zenga TV, is one of the founders of the Zenga group of companies. He is a young, successful entrepreneur and a professional with an excellent track record in Mobile VAS, mobile media and telecommunications. Shabir’s current venture, Zenga, primarily comprises ZengaTV (one of its kind mobile TV service with live streaming and exclusive content like Colors, MTV, having a monthly average viewership of 30+ million user views), Cricket Companion a.k.a Crick Zenga (world’s largest used mobile cricket application with more than 8 million users with a global award winning track record) and Zengamail (a unique push mail solution for mobiles). Under Shabir’s leadership, Zenga has also participated and successfully delivered projects on the digital platform for major brands like IPL, Champion’s League T20, MTV, Crunch, Sunburn, etc. In the past, he has been the Asia Head for a technology innovation company called Picsel Technologies (UK) and Sentac Inc. (USA). He has also been CEO Asia for I-Connect Inc., a U.S. based MNC, an operation comprising more than 9000 seats working out of the Asia Pacific region. Some other leading brands that Shabir has worked with are Obopay (a mobile financial solution) and Polaris Wireless. He carries with him a vast experience in software development and networks as well.
Zenga TV is one of the leading providers of TV services for Live TV channels, other entrainment, reality shows and news content optimized for viewing on mobile and web screens. The unique technology works on delivering the best possible mobile TV experience optimized for the type of the device and the kind of network being used. Zenga’s mission is to bring Interactive, Collaborative, On Demand, and Informative Entertainment into the hands of mobile users in an optimized and cost effective way. Zenga TV was also the exclusive, mobile, live video streaming provider for IPLT20 in year 2009 where Zenga streamed Live IPLT20 matches on mobile and managed the delivery across 140 Countries and for the first time showed the world the experience of watching continues & live Cricket Match on mobile. Zenga also delivered the Live IPL in 2010 on You tube, which was again the first time for IPL on web. Zenga holds the exclusive rights to Viacom 18 Channels like Colors TV and MTV which has a strong following in India. Zenga has done many live, unique and exclusive events like Sunburn from Goa and Crunch for MTV which was a Live 24 x 7 reality shows on web and mobile. -
Mobile TV viewing not a costly affair
16 Feb 2012
New Delhi: If a user watches TV on his mobile phone for 20 minutes every day for a month, he will consume only 1.2 GB.
If you have a mobile phone that supports a web browser, GPRS and WiFi connectivity, you can watch more than 100 TV channels live on your mobile phone and it is not going to be a costly affair as most mobile users think it is.
"Due to lack of awareness coupled with fear of expensive service, mobile TV has not seen the adoption that was expected," Shabir Momin, chief executive officer of Zenga TV, told to The Mobile Indian.
He further added, "People who watch mobile TV through Zenga app or through a browser using Zenga video player will consume just 2 MB of data for watching a TV programme for 10 minutes on their mobile. Also, if the user uses his WiFi network, he doesn't need to pay anything."
Momin added that if one watches mobile TV through Zenga app for 20 minutes per day for a month, one will consume only 1.2 GB of data. Most telecom operators provide cheap data plans such as 2 GB for Rs 99. So, if a user has a 2 GB data plan for Rs 99 and consumes 1.2 GB of data for mobile TV, he is still left with 80 MB of data, which is sufficient for browsing mail and checking updates on Facebook.
Vamshi Krishna Reddy, chief executive officer of Apalya, a company that delivers television content over mobile networks, agrees with this point. He said to The Mobile Indian, "Users who watch mobile TV on Apalya Mobile TV app will consume around 12 MB of data for viewing 10 minutes of live TV."
Apart from the lack of awareness about mobile TV another major issue which is hampering its growth is that some telecom operators charge a subscription fee and data usage charges for providing TV services.
This strategy is neither doing any good to mobile consumers nor profiting telcos as most users are staying away from using mobile TV services. Since users are already consuming data while watching mobile TV, an additional fixed subscription fee doesn't make sense. It is just another way of earning a few more bucks from users.
As a matter of fact, users should download mobile TV apps like Zenga or watch TV in the mobile browser and there will be no question of having to pay subscription charges. Also, if a user has access to WiFi services, then he can watch mobile TV for free on a WiFi enabled handset.
Users can view mobile TV services through both 2G and 3G networks, of which the latter offers better viewing without buffering.
Here is a comparison of mobile TV services from different operators:
Tata Indicom
Tata Indicom, a CDMA service provider, offers mobile TV services at Rs 75 per month for 100 channels.
However, data charges are extra, which makes it very costly as watching TV consumes 1 to 2 MB per minute. Tata Indicom offers several data plans with 1 MB costing 50 paise. If you subscribe to bulk plans like Rs 500 for 2 GB or Rs 1,500 for 15 GB of data, this service could remain cheap; otherwise it can prove costly.
Tata Docomo
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Starting Up: Zenga TV offers live video streaming on mobile
12 Feb 2012
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okCBmxiwQtc -
Mobile Tv Viwing not a Costly Affair
10 Feb 2012
If a user watches TV on his mobile phone for 20 minutes every day for a month, he will consume only 1.2 GB.
Home » News » Applications » Mobile TV viewing not a costly affair Mobile TV viewing not a costly affair by: Sandeep Budki, The Mobile Indian,New Delhi | Last Updated: Friday, February 10, 2012 - 05:30 If a user watches TV on his mobile phone for 20 minutes every day for a month, he will consume only 1.2 GB. If you have a mobile phone that supports a web browser, GPRS and WiFi connectivity, you can watch more than 100 TV channels live on your mobile phone and it is not going to be a costly affair as most mobile users think it is.
"Due to lack of awareness coupled with fear of expensive service, mobile TV has not seen the adoption that was expected,” Shabir Momin, chief executive officer of Zenga TV, told to The Mobile Indian.
He further added, "People who watch mobile TV through Zenga app or through a browser using Zenga video player will consume just 2 MB of data for watching a TV programme for 10 minutes on their mobile. Also, if the user uses his WiFi network, he doesn't need to pay anything."
Momin added that if one watches mobile TV through Zenga app for 20 minutes per day for a month, one will consume only 1.2 GB of data. Most telecom operators provide cheap data plans such as 2 GB for Rs 99. So, if a user has a 2 GB data plan for Rs 99 and consumes 1.2 GB of data for mobile TV, he is still left with 80 MB of data, which is sufficient for browsing mail and checking updates on Facebook.
Vamshi Krishna Reddy, chief executive officer of Apalya, a company that delivers television content over mobile networks, agrees with this point. He said to The Mobile Indian, "Users who watch mobile TV on Apalya Mobile TV app will consume around 12 MB of data for viewing 10 minutes of live TV.”
Apart from the lack of awareness about mobile TV another major issue which is hampering its growth is that some telecom operators charge a subscription fee and data usage charges for providing TV services. -
The Difference between Startup Winners and Losers
22 Jan 2012
Editor’s Note: Launched in India in 2008, Zenga Media provides a unique mobile email solution and a one-of-a-kind mobile TV service; it is the only company in the world that provides real-time streaming technology that can stream on 2.5G and above networks on mobile and do seamless live and archival video streaming across networks. Zenga was designated as a “NASSCOM EMERGE 50 League of 10 Leaders” company in November 2011, recognizing Zenga as a company that will shape the industry going forward.
In this article, Zenga’s co-founder and CEO, Shabir Momin, discusses startup funding, employee qualities that can’t be cultivated or taught, and what makes the difference between becoming a winner or a loser.
SandHill.com: You are a successful entrepreneur who created and sold two other companies prior to Zenga Media. What inspired you to create Zenga?
Shabir Momin: I was inspired in 2006 by the possibilities that mobile would have, going forward, and wanted to be a part of the journey in this change. Our goal is to create innovative and cost-effective solutions that will help change the market behavior and adoption towards content consumption, creation and availability.
Based on my inspiration about the possibilities in mobile, we launched ZengaTV (with live TV, shows like Colors and MTV, and movies), Zengamail (a unique mobile pushmail solution) and Cricket Companion a.k.a Crick Zenga (the world’s largest used mobile cricket application with more than eight million users with a global award winning track record).
SandHill.com: What is your market share today and to what do you attribute that success?
Shabir Momin: We do things more for passion then money. Fortunately for us the passion has paid off and we became positive and profitable in less than two years after our launch. We believe that if we can deliver compelling, rich content at affordable rats or free of charge to users, they will be our ambassadors to the world. That strategy has worked. We have not partnered with mobile operators, yet we deliver more than 50 percent of the videos consumed in the market on mobile devices. We are promoted by our partner TV channels, but most of our customers are from word of mouth. This is all possible because we make sure we give good content and rich experiences to the users.
SandHill.com: How did you find your first investor?
Shabir Momin: We don’t have an investor as yet. My friend, Vikramjiet Roy, is a partner in business too; we have a 50:50 partnership. Both of us invested our own money, which we earned from our previous ventures. We do not have any external funding in any form as yet. We wanted to use our own money and get to a stage where we are profitable and have the flexibility to work as per our wish and vision.
We saw from our past experience that whenever an investor comes on board, the process itself eats up about 6-12 months of time to do the presentations, due diligence, funds, fund planning and finally some new policies that an investor puts in. All of this actually slows down the company’s pace of growth.
Also, we were very confident of our venture, and that’s why invested our own money rather than playing with others’ money.
SandHill.com: Please describe a tradeoff you had to make in your time-to-market race and how you decided what to do.
Shabir Momin: Early on, we saw a big resistance from mobile operators when we wanted to work with them. Soon we realized that the business model was too lopsided and we would always lose money. So we decided to go B2C directly and have no operator relationship. This sounded very crazy at that time; a lot of friends and well-wishers advised us to work with operators, and some of our competitions were laughing at us. We decided to go on our hunch and today we are the largest video service provider in India.
SandHill.com: In not working with investors and mobile operators, you took some major risks. Have you always been a risk-taker, even while growing up? What was an early clue that you had an entrepreneurial personality?
Shabir Momin: I was always the school leader; and even when I was not the school leader, still everybody used to come to me with their problems. I was very naughty in school and even school seniors were scared of me.
I remember a time when I was still in school when someone asked me to buy some supplies for his office as a favor. I figured a way to buy it and how to package it so that I could make a margin on it while the cost to the person remained the same.
When I look back, I felt these are things that most people think are not good. Yet they also the same things that gave me strength and confidence to take more risk and also to be more analytical.
I started working when I finished 10th Grade, while I was still continuing my studies. I became a Chief Technology officer at the age of 21 – the youngest in Asia at that time.
Throughout my early years of working, I knew that I would have to do something on my own as I am not happy working with limitations while working for others.
SandHill.com: If you could go back and live another business day over again (good or bad), when would it be? What happened that day?
Shabir Momin: There are many things that happened during the journey so far that are good and bad. I feel both of them contributed to our success so far, so I would not want to go back and change it. The bads are actually more important than the goods as they strengthen you and give you the power to fight better and achieve better.
I am a strong believer in whatever happens, happens for the good. As long as one doesn’t stop putting in their share of effort and dedication, the rest of it will fall in place – sometimes a bit late, but it will for sure fall in place. If you can continue believing in your vision while the rest of the people around you fail to believe in the same, you will achieve things that are beyond normal.
SandHill.com: What challenges have you encountered in recruiting, hiring and retaining the right talent?
Shabir Momin: When I hire someone, there are a few very required ingredients that I look for, which are usually not available at one go – honesty, dedication and hunger to learn. These are things that one cannot cultivate; the rest one can teach/train, but not these.
One of the biggest problems I find in most of the people I hire is that they do not know what they want to do in life and which path to go; rather, their decisions have been influenced by their parents, friends, relatives and also market trends and money. This results in people applying for and starting working in a position for which they lack conviction.
The way I resolve this is by giving them a chance to learn and nurture what they like, and it could be drastically different from their position. Eventually they settle down with what they enjoy doing and thus give a better productivity. I always promote people to do what they feel like doing the most.
SandHill.com: Who is the person you would most like to meet?
Shabir Momin: Most of the people I would like to meet are no longer living, such as Mahatma Gandhi, Subash Ch Boos, Alexander Graham Bell, Isaac Newton and Napoleon.
Among the living I would love to meet Abdul Kalam, India’s president, and the actor, Amitab Bacchan – not just meet them but, rather, spend time with them to understand life from their viewpoint. They interest me not because of what they are but because of their in-depth knowledge about things and there unique approach. These are the things I am a fan of.
Amitab Bacchan lives a new character every day, and he truly lives it while he is acting. I would like to understand how to manage to mentally transform oneself. How does he focus his mind to such an extent that he can actually make himself believe for those momenta that he is actually the character? That is amazing.
Abdul Kalam was a great scientist before becoming president of India. Given a chance, I would sit with him and understand how he views things from his eyes. I have realized that what makes one a winner or a loser is at what level you look at things and how you analyze it logically.
Shabir Momin is a co-founder and the CEO of the Zenga group of companies. He is a successful entrepreneur and a professional with an excellent track record in Mobile VAS, mobile media and telecommunications. Formerly, at age 21, he was the youngest CTO at Siemens. He also was formerly Asia Head for Picsel Technologies (UK), Sentac Inc. (USA), and worked with 1-Connect (U.S.-based MNC) and at Aspect (world’s second largest CRM company after Siebel). He has successfully strategized the entry/launch of new technologies in India and around the world. He specializes in taking a product, technology or concept to a new market in the most innovative way and ensures its success. Contact him at shabir@zengamail.com. -
CNBC TV18 Young Turks Interview of Shabir Momin
20 Jan 2012
YouTube URL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfw7hCdRfUw -
FTV La Fenness Fashion Series Launches on Mobile and Web TV with Zenga and Newzstreet videos
1 Dec 2011
New Delhi, December1, 2011. Zenga TV, pioneer in Mobile TV services in India and newzstreet has entered into a strategic partnership for the exclusive rights to FTV Finness series of Fashion show. With this partnership, FTV La Fenness fashion series will be exclusive showcase for high level brands, fashion shows and exclusive lifestyle events, across mobile phones worldwide.
For the first time on mobile phones, Zenga users across the world will be able to enjoy a mixture of contemporary fashion, beauty, lifestyle and luxury. With the help of newzstreet, the exclusive content will be focusing on fashion shows, backstage access, photographers, models and celebrities.
We are very pleased to welcome FTV Fashion show series to the Zenga network. FTV's choice of Zenga as its mobile partner has again demonstrated broadcaster confidence in Zenga to be the ideal platform for worldwide mobile distribution" Mr. Shabir Mommin, Zenga CEO stated. "This new channel is an exciting addition to Zenga's existing linear and catch-up TV service and part of an ongoing strategy to expand our channel line-up to meet the fast growing demand from mobile and web TV around the world for live mobile TV."
Commenting on the partnership, Mr. ABC, FTV "La Fenness fashion show series is a young and dynamic show watched by an audience who is, sensitive to new technologies and trends; therefore we are very excited to launch series on mobile phones and web TV worldwide with the global leaders in mobile TV Zenga. Our addition to the global mobile TV network reinforces our position as the number one fashion medium in the world. The new FTV mobile series is a sparkle and shine in the world of fashion and lifestyle"
Mr. ABC, newzstreet, "We are excited to partner with La Fenness fashion show series for the video content delivery. It will help us have a global exposure and underscores newzstreet commitment in bringing rich and differentiated content .With its content going live on newzstreet, I am sure newzstreet will gain unprecedented reach and popularity." FTV, the world's premier fashion, beauty and lifestyle channel, will be available on all mobile devices, including Tab, iPhone, iPad, and WEB. Using a 2.5G or Wi-Fi connection users will be able to enjoy the latest headlines, interviews, stories and results from upcoming events. Zenga TV services are accessible across all leading mobile networks such as Idea, Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, BSNL, MTNL, Reliance, Docomo as well as on the web. All that the user has to do is go to https://www.zengatv.com. -
Newzstreet Debuts on 'Yahoo! Video' with Phenomenal Day 1 Viewership.
1 Dec 2011
New Delhi, December 1, 2011. Newzstreet, India's first online newspaper moderated by the community, powered by Zenga, has announced phenomenal response to its video offerings Day of launch on Yahoo! Video. newzstreet is the official partner of Yahoo! India for exclusive bollywood video content on Yahoo! Video.
Yahoo! Video is a dedicated premium video destination that offers original content across multiple genres such as News, Entertainment, Lifestyle and Movies. Yahoo! Video delivers a high quality video experience, free for all Internet users in India and guarantees a trusted and safe environment for publishers and content providers to host their valuable content.
The launch of Yahoo! Video is a critical step towards meeting the growing appetite of Indian online users. According to a recent ComScore report, over 30 million unique users in India watch online videos each month and on average each user consumes about 58 videos a month. Newzstreet has managed to get maximum hits on the launch of the portal. Commenting on the partnership, Mr. ABC, Yahoo! India, "We have partnered with newzstreet for exclusive bollywood video content. With this partnership, Yahoo! India gets licensed, original and diverse content with piracy free destination which delivers highly quality and strict original video content. The success of the offering has to be attributed to the rapid increase in the online video consumption."
Commenting on the success Mr. ABC, newzstreet, "newzstreet has garnered an extremely active viewership base smashing the records. We are extremely excited that Yahoo! India is taking newzstreet to its huge membership base. With the help of Zenga streaming technology, we have been able to deliver high quality video at minimal bandwidths, thus ensuring high viewership."
Newzstreet, is also available on the mobile platform, a step in the direction of broad basing and growing this genre in India. Zenga extensive reach across the world and expertise with mobile digital content delivery will play a key role in our goal to maximize the availability of world-class premier news programming and reaching audience demographic globally.
About newzstreet newzstreet, is country's first online newspaper which is moderated by the community and newzstreet moderators. Individuals can write, inform, share and exchange news, information, videos, images, views and opinions about their neighborhood events, happenings. Users can also search and navigate a news event by location and category, to share and to have a discussion around it. -
Zenga TV launches Live TV for Computers
12 Nov 2011
New Delhi - November 12,2011 - (Zenga Tv) announced today it has been selected as a Finalist for Red Herring's Top 100 Asia award, a prestigious list honoring the year's most promising private technology ventures from the Asian business region. The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of hundreds from across Asia. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.
This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the "buzz" and make the list an valuable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.
"This year was very rewarding," said Alex Vieux, publisher and Chairman of Red Herring. "The global economic situation has abated and there are many great companies producing really innovative and amazing products. We had a very difficult time narrowing the pool and selecting the finalists. (Insert Company Name) shows great promise therefore deserves to be among the Finalists. Now we're faced with the difficult task of selecting the Top 100 winners of Red Herring Asia. We know that the 2011 crop will grow into some amazing companies that are sure to make an impact."
Finalists for the 2011 edition of the Red Herring 100 Asia award are selected based upon their technological innovation, management strength, market size, investor record, customer acquisition, and financial health. During the several months leading up to the announcement, hundreds of companies in the telecommunications, security, Web 2.0, software, hardware, biotech, mobile and other industries completed their submissions to qualify for the award.
The Finalists are invited to present their winning strategies at the Red Herring Asia Forum in Hong Kong, October 17-19, 2011. The Top 100 winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony the evening of October 19 at the event. -
Indian entrepreneurs showcase their technology products start-ups on global platforms
11 Nov 2011
The debate on why India's technology services powerhouses have not blazed a similar trail in the product space is one that has engaged multiple forums. But as services turned into multi-billion dollar businesses these discussions petered out - until a whole new breed of Indian entrepreneurs began to showcase their technology products on global platforms.
From just a handful of ventures like Tally Solutions and Subex Technologies, the Indian product story now has a cast of new players such as enterprise software maker Zoho, mobile advertising technology company InMobi, Mango Technologies and younger upstarts such as MobStac. These firms are creating products for a wide variety of sectors like mobility, small and medium businesses, e-commerce, education, consumer and government.
Despite being dwarfed in size by the mammoth $76-billion software services industry, the product companies in India earn $2 billion in revenue from 2,400 firms, according to Indian IT trade body Nasscom. Over 1,100 software product start-ups have come up just in the last five years.
The conclave was a buzz of activity with product entrepreneurs rushing between sessions and workshops on subjects ranging from market opportunities in Africa to pitching to angel investors.
It offered an opportunity for entrepreneurs of fledgling start-ups to interact with industry experts and investors, like Valley investor and Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla, entrepreneur and academician Vivek Wadhwa, Walmart's Senior Vice-President Anand Rajaraman and global software venture Intuit's CEO Brad Smith.
"What is interesting is that around 70% of the entrepreneurs are below the age of 35. They have terrific self confidence and are filled with effervescence and ebullience," said Rajendra S Pawar, chairman of Nasscom and co-founder and chairman of the NIIT Group, which runs training and software and services companies in the world.
Indian software product businesses have recorded an impressive revenue growth of 22% over the last five years, said Sharad Sharma, chair at Nasscom product forum.
While the cost of setting up a product start-up has gone down significantly due to technologies such as cloud and mobility, industry experts say product entrepreneurs continue to be risk averse. Besides, funding and tapping new markets still remain key challenges.
"Sometimes entrepreneurs in India are afraid to fail. The willingness to fail is the key ingredient to success. And when you screw up, one must not give up," said billionaire venture capital investorVinod Khosla.
Khosla believes entrepreneurship is about doing surprising and unreasonable things. Also entrepreneurs need not to listen to experts, but create their own invention and markets.
"Nobody had predicted about Facebook or Twitter," he said.
India Emerging profiles ten product start-ups, recognised at the Nasscom Product Conclave, who are on the path to firmly establish India as the product hub of the world.
Zenga Media
Launched in 2009 by Shabir Momin, Zenga Media provides real-time video streaming on mobile handsets. The videos can be accessed from any basic mobile handset that can connect to the internet and a video player. While the content is free to users, the revenue is generated through advertisements. The company has also tied up with the Indian Premier League, MTV and other television channels to provide matches and programmes on the w .. -
Darshan 24 goes Live on Mobile phones and Web with ZENGA TV
03 Nov 2011
New Delhi, November 03, 2011: Zenga TV, pioneer in Mobile TV services in India has entered into a strategic partnership with BAG Network. With this partnership Darshan 24 is now available free to mobile phone and web users globally on Zenga TV's superior, seamless, non-buffering mobile & Web TV service.
Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Shabir Momiin, CEO, Zenga TV, said, "Zenga TV through this tie-up with BAG Networks goes one step ahead in ensuring that we continue showcasing content which is unique and relevant for our viewers. It is a known fact that people though living a very fast paced life are still strict followers of God and spirituality. This partnership will ensure that the viewers can now continue to watch the channel while on the move."
He continued "Darshan 24 being a spiritual channel and many of us wanting to visit various Yatras and Dhams will now have ready access to telecast from the important religious places on our mobile phones and laptops." Mr. RK Arora, CEO - Broadcasting, BAG Network, said "though a recently launched channel, Darshan24 has caught on the interest of our viewers. With this tie-up with Zenga TV we are sure that the devotees will not miss out on the live telecast from various Dhams and spiritual places that Darshan 24 showcases. Through this tie-up Darshan 24 will reach devotees all across the globe, who can now watch their favorite guru speaking Live on their phones."
With this partnership, any consumer with a GPRS/3G/WiFi enabled handset and connection can point their browser to Zengatv.com and experience the divinity of Darshan 24. User can also download a launcher of the service from the WAP portal. Apart for Darshan 24 , other two channels of BAG Network i.e. E24 and News 24 are also available on ZengaTV. Viewers will now be able to watch Darshan24, round the clock on their mobile phones, tablets and computers. Zenga TV services are accessible across all leading mobile networks such as Idea, Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, BSNL, MTNL, Reliance, Docomo as well as on the web. All that the user has to do is go to https://zengatv.com.
About Darshan 24 A 24 hour spiritual channel which will be targeted to all religions. In India, there is no religious channel for all the religions, and Darshan24 is an effort to fill that vacuum. The channel will telecast from various places like Tirupati Bala ji, Shirdi, Sidhivinayak & Maha Lakhmi, Mumbai, Hanuman Mandir & Shani Dham New Delhi, Shiv mandir Ujjain & Varanasi, Shish Ganj & Bangla Sahib Gurudwara, New Delhi, Jain Mandir Tijara & Mahavir ji, Ajmer sharief & Nizamuddin Dargah. Spiritual leaders from Shri Shri Ravi Shankar to Murari Bapu to Sudhanshu ji Maharaj will be now touching millions of spiritual souls.
Zenga TV is one of the leading providers of aggregated TV and other entrainment and news content optimized for viewing on mobile screens. The unique technology works on delivering the best possible mobile TV experience optimized for the type of the device and the kind of network being used. Zenga's mission is to bring Interactive, Collaborative, On Demand, and Informative Entertainment into the hands of mobile users in an optimized and cost effective manner. Zenga TV was also the exclusive, mobile, live video streaming provider for IPLT20 in year 2009, where Zenga streamed Live IPLT20 matches on mobile and managed the delivery across 140 Countries and for the first time showed the world the experience of watching continues & live Cricket Match on mobile. -
9X Tashan break mobile TV record on Zenga TV Fastest channel to reach 1 million video views in just 10 days
19 Sep 2011
New Delhi, September 19, 2011 Zenga TV, pioneer in Mobile TV today announced that 9X Tashan has become the fastest growing channel on debut on mobile TV. 9X Tashan has managed to break the 1 million video views mark in just 10 days, the fastest in the industry.
Vibha Gosher, Vice President Digital, 9X Media Group, said, "9X Tashan has created television history with its robust performance. We wonder if any other Music Channel has ever hit a century in its opening week. We are extremely excited that Zenga TV is taking 9X Tashan PAN India on the digital platform. The response to Mobile TV has been extremely overwhelming."
Commenting on the success, Mr. Shabir Momiin, CEO, Zenga TV, said, 9X Tashan has garnered an extremely active viewership base smashing all the records on Zenga TV. The success of the offering has to be attributed to the phenomenal fan following of Punjabi music. In addition, users have preferred our real live mobile TV service in comparison to delayed streaming from You Tube. Furthermore the optimized service for different mobile phones, networks and local operating conditions has been appreciated.
9X Tashan is available globally on Zenga TV offering and in north India through cable operators and DTH TV. 9X Tashan, is targeted at free-spirited Punjabi viewers who take pride in everything related to Punjab Food, Culture, Music, Costumes, etc. The 24-hour contemporary, Super Hit Punjabi Music Channel airs the latest and best Punjabi music across all genres Pop, Romance, Underground, Action, Folk, etc interspersed with rib-tickling short episodes of characters created in 3D animation. To view 9X Tashan on Zenga TV, any consumer with a GPRS/3G/WiFi enabled handset and connection can point their browser to tv.Zengatv.com and enjoy 9X Tashan. User can also download a launcher of the service from the WAP portal.
About 9 X Media Group 9X Media Group currently operate 9XM, India's leading Bollywood Music Channel and Super Hit Punjabi Music Channel 9X Tashan. The Company plans to expand into a network of music channels providing world-class entertainment in major Indian languages.
Zenga TV is one of the leading providers of aggregated TV and other entrainment and news content optimized for viewing on mobile screens. The unique technology works on delivering the best possible mobile TV experience optimized for the type of the device and the kind of network being used. Zenga's mission is to bring Interactive, Collaborative, On Demand, and Informative Entertainment into the hands of mobile users in an optimized and cost effective manner. Zenga TV was also the exclusive, mobile, live video streaming provider for IPLT20 in year 2009, where Zenga streamed Live IPLT20 matches on mobile and managed the delivery across 140 Countries and for the first time showed the world the experience of watching continues & live Cricket Match on mobile. -
9X Tashan Launches on Mobile phones using the ZENGA TV Platform Reaches out to viewers on India's
13 Sep 2011
New Delhi, September XX, 2011, Zenga TV, pioneer in Mobile TV services in India has entered into a strategic partnership with 9X Tashan. With this partnership 9X Tashan is now available free to mobile phone users globally on Zenga TV's superior, seamless, non-buffering mobile TV service. The 24-hour contemporary Punjabi music channel will air its content for Punjabi viewers and showcase programs on Punjab's food, culture, music, costumes and everything Punjabi. Viewers will now be able to watch 9 X Tashan round the clock on their mobile phones or tablets. Zenga TV services are accessible across all leading mobile networks such as Idea, Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, BSNL, MTNL, Reliance, Docomo. All that the user has to do is go to https://tv.zengatv.com.
XX 9X Media Group, said 9X is known for their commitment to offer super hit music and humor to their viewers continue to entertain with the best Punjabi music across all genres Pop, Romance, Underground, Action, Folk, etc - interspersed with rib-tickling short episodes of characters created in 3D animation. Mobile TV is an innovative way to leverage technology and create additional touch points with our current and prospective viewers. I strongly believe that mobile TV is the future of entertainment in India with higher penetration than TV sets."
Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Shabir Momiin, CEO, Zenga TV, said, "We are pleased to partner with 9X Tashan, a leader in music channels in India. Our partnership with 9X Tashan underscores Zenga's commitment in bringing rich and differentiated TV content to mobile users across India. With its content going live on Zenga, I am sure 9X Tashan will gain unprecedented reach and popularity." -
Zenga aiming to scale $1 billion mark
26 Aug 2011
New Delhi: Even while the novelty of viewing live video and TV content on mobile phones is wearing off for earlier users, it is beginning to catch the interest of those who came in late and learnt the value of 3G services.
Mobile TV content is specifically designed keeping in mind the handset screen size, resolution, bandwidth, media players and video formats to make viewing hassle-free.
Although the service has been available in India for more than three years, customers have been unhappy. Lack of content, disruptions and irregular billings irked many who stopped subscribing to the service.
On whether the industry holds good and is likely to witness better times, Gulf News interviews Shabir Momiin, the CEO of Zenga group of companies.
GULF NEWS: What does it indicate when you say — Zenga is one of a kind mobile TV services? Is it the first of its kind in the world or India?
SHABIR MOMIIN: It's the first of its kind in the world from the technology delivery point of view. That's because companies worldwide have been using technologies based on cut and download system. They cut a capsule of 20 seconds to a minute and process it. The same is then sent to the phone. And while it is playing, subsequent capsules are sent one after the other. Whereas in our technology, it's a frame-on-frame real time transfer and that's why it is unique, much faster and plays on a low bandwidth. We can work at as low as 20 kbps bandwidth and scale up to whatever thousand kbps are needed. Our competitors need 75 kbps to start, which is a hug gap.
What does Zenga mean and when was it launched?
Zenga means freedom [in Japanese] and the bottom line of our company reads ‘freedom is here'. I began researching the market in 2006 and started developing the technology parallel to it. The first legal entity was launched in 2008 and now it is a combination of three entities in a holding structure. A lot of our services including Mobile Live TV, cricket, Facebook and email are provided free to users.
Where do you see Zenga two years from now?
The target is to look at a billion dollar company very soon.
You have targeted cricket and Bollywood — the two nerve-centres of Indian pulse. Any plans to target the other sectors?
Social media is where we already have our footprints on. The video experience, along with social media connected to it, should be launched within 45 days.
Could you elaborate on this new service in the video space?
That is being kept a bit confidential for now. But what we plan to do will change the social media scene. It will be revolutionary.
Do you think content and operators' management are the biggest challenges now? If so, why?
Yes, content owners have high expectations from their own content in shape of return, placement, values. But at the same time they are still manageable, as one can explain to them, give them funds, which is the minimum guarantee and get the content on board.
But operators are difficult to cope with and have a very stubborn attitude. Plus, their revenue sharing models are not friendly. Earlier, they did not charge for data and took revenue share. But now they charge for data and still take a revenue share, which will be killing. Also, the price points are not friendly to users.
What are the other challenges in this business sector?
It's the psychology of the market, which is not moving very fast. Operators still want to govern a lot of entities. They need to understand that we are all a part of the value chain and need to strike the deals in such a way that it becomes beneficial to all. But if one tries a lopsided deal, the other might do it for need, but won't be able to sustain it for long.
That apart, the advertising industry is not moving as fast as the technology and telecommunications industry.
If the advertising industry takes some bigger strides to get closer and start investing in the new digital medium, like the web and mobile, it will not only be helpful, but also give them good returns on investments. Though one of our revenue streams is advertising, we haven't seen any great guns happening in this area as yet.
What's Zenga's USP? And how do you intend staying ahead of your competitors?
We do not work with operators and are a direct B2C (business-to-consumer) company. So any user with a data connection can use our services. We give a lot of content free. All our live TV channels including Colors and MTV are free, so a viewer can watch any of these. And the cost of those for which one has to pay, like movies or crispy content such as Big Boss, the price is very low at Rs10 (around 8 fils) for 10 days. At that cost, there are many takers, because other companies are charging Rs5 for five minutes. As a consumer, even I wouldn't think of paying this amount!
Who is your target audience?
Our audience varies from product to product. And they are in the age group of 16 to 45 years.
With mobile phones people document, do business, organise protests in ways that were previously impossible? How does Mobile TV Services help the masses?
People have much less time for themselves these days. It's no more a 10 to 5 job for most of us. On an average, generally everyone puts in 12 to 14 hours at work and hardly any personal time is left. The only personal moments one gets are while travelling, at the airport lounges, metro stations and hotel lobbies — before or after the meetings. During these moments, mobile TV comes in handy. So, we designed our content keeping all this in mind. Moreover, we not only have ‘live', but archival content that one has missed viewing before.
Since the success of this kind of business depends on viewership, how much importance is given to consumer feedback?
That's the core of our growth strategy. Our doors are always open for feedback and based on users' suggestions, we carry changes from time-to-time. For instance, Cricket Companion, the FLG based out of Dubai and marketed all over the world — the product's Version 3 will be launched soon.
Based on consumer proposals, it will have full-fledged social media engraved into it. I give full credit for this to our users, because they are so versatile and have out-of-the-box ideas. In a global service launch, the feedback is both varied and amazing. Our biggest reach has been in India, followed by the US, the UK and the Middle East.
How is your Cricket Property doing?
In 2009, we launched Crick Zenga and Crick Companion. Though we wanted to keep one as paid service and the other free, eventually, both were kept free.
Now, we are merging them and it would be called Cricket Companion. It's an application that can be downloaded and covers 6,000 handsets in the market. It gives live field coverage of any international cricket match. The user can set up the hand phone in such a way that it would vibrate, speak out or flash when the player hits a six or a four.
What's the current status of the mobile TV industry? What holds good for the future?
Currently, we hold about 65 per cent of the market in India. And in the next five years it's going to be big.
What are your company's plans in terms of adding new services, applications and raising capital?
Apart from the video service, we have also invested in digital news. Zenga has journalists on payrolls to generate news, which will be a part of Mobile TV service. Unlike in the past, it won't be picked up from the broadcast medium, but will come from our end.
What were the initial investments and what is the current turnover of your company?
We invested about $2 million and after re-investing the amount it could be $3.5 million. In the last six months, we earned a profit of $1.5 million. Towards the end of the year we are looking at revenue of $5-$6 million.
Excellent record
Shabir Momiin has been the Asia head for a technology innovation company Picsel Technologies (UK) and Sentac (USA). He was also CEO Asia for I-Connect, a US-based multinational. At 21, Momiin was the youngest Chief Technology Officer in the Asia Pacific region for a US-based company pioneering in the CRM business and ranked second in the world after Seibel.
His current venture, Zenga, primarily comprises Mobile TV service with live streaming and exclusive content (having a monthly average viewership of 30 million) and Cricket Companion, formerly known as Crick Zenga (more than 8 million users with a global award winning track record). Momiin has been instrumental in successfully delivering projects on the digital platform for major brands like IPL, Champion's League T20, MTV, Crunch and Sunburn. -
Everybody yearns for a big-bang entry when they start off their career. The same can be said about Zenga TV which decided to take the path one would rarely tread upon
15 Jun 2011
Everybody yearns for a big-bang entry when they start off their career. The same can be said about Zenga TV which decided to take the path one would rarely tread upon.
At a time when most of the mobile TV platforms were approaching mobile operators to be carried, Zenga TV offered the first free 'live TV' service in the country. People scoffed and laughed but two years after a debut with IPL 2009, serving seven million viewers in over 140 countries, the company has turned profitable. Now, after adding more than 150 channels and 18,000 movies to its kitty, the platform will soon be venturing into delivering original content in 52 genres.
Out of these, production in four genres namely fashion, styling, comedy, fashion and cooking will be done by Zenga, itself while the rest will be aggregated from all over the world such as music, gaming, extreme sports, travel and other fashion. "These four genres need localisation," says Zenga TV founder, MD and CTO Shabir Momin.
A technologist all his life, Momin and his friend Vikramjiet Ray invested about six to seven million dollars into this venture which started reaping profits within two years. Industry sources put it at anywhere between Rs 2-3 crore per annum.
Starting off at a time when the minimum bandwidth was 20-25 kbps in India as compared to 78 kbps in other parts of the world, they developed a code to provide live streaming at 2.5G and at this low bandwidth. Even though 3G is being promoted, only 10 percent of Zenga TV's users are 3G users. The arrival of 4G will only enhance the picture quality, according to Momin.
Zenga TV has a long list of Indian channels as well as 30 international ones which are genre specific. However, 70 per cent of the traffic comes from movies while 30 per cent from channels out of which Aaj Tak, Pogo, 9xm are some of the popular ones. Animated content being in the top ten has surprised even those at Zenga TV. Some of the other channels it streams live are NDTV Profit, Raj News Kannada, Focus TV, Big Magic, 9XM, Sahara filmy.
One of the news channels on the portal which wished to remain unnamed said that two years ago when they got into a deal with Zenga TV it helped it because it targeted non-smartphone users, even though it had an application of its own. However, its expectations from the association has been only 'just met' and in order to have more control from its side it is looking at revaluating the contract and seek more opportunities outside of Zenga TV.
"Zenga TV is not very viable because broadcasters do not want to lose big money from their DTH and cable operators who may object to live streaming for free on the internet at the same time making money on advertising," says media consultant Sanjeev Hiremath. This could be why Star, Zee, Sony etc are not part of the bouquet but are available on its competitors Ditto TV and Apalya. Demand for these channels is there; according to Momin, but since there is no ROI for it and so he opted to not negotiate with them. To date a 50:50 revenue share is maintained with all its channels. Market estimates varied from approximately Rs 25,000 to Rs 7-8 lakh per channel. "I would rather give you exciting and intriguing content which is cost effective for me as well," states Momin.
Speaking in terms of demographics, 45 per cent of viewership comes from rural India while 35 per cent comes from urban cities, Delhi and Mumbai being the larger chunk of it; the rest from tier II cities. Local retailers propose a data plan to customers which will let them watch free TV on mobile. This benefits the customers as a lot of times electricity isn't available to watch TV and the plan is approximately Rs 200 a month. It also means customers coming back to them every month.
Abhishek Joshi joined the team a few months ago to spearhead the project from Mumbai The time when most traffic is on it is from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The average time span is 10 minutes per view and six to eight views per month each amounting to 250 million views per month. And is a male dominated area wherein 70 per cent viewers are men. The target group is 13 to 65 years but a majority of the viewers are the young audience between 18 to 35 years. About 85 per cent of viewers are from India while UK, US and UAE keep juggling in the top three spot from the international countries.
It has an automatic system that adds servers to tackle unexpected increase in traffic, when it isn't manned and when traffic goes down, it automatically kills the servers. From two, the team now consists of 55 to 60 people in Delhi and Mumbai with an attrition rate of just 0.5 per cent most of the team being freshers who are brimming with ideas. Momin who was formerly the CEO, gave way to Abhishek Joshi to be the CEO in July 2012, marking the beginning of the Mumbai office. Bangalore and Kolkata are the next expansion destinations.
At inception it was available on Windows, Android and iOS while Symbian 60 was added recently. Anybody with a browser could view. Everything is cloud based with seven Amazon servers across the world. It was only in 2012 that the app was created. Momin maintains that an app will not be made for Blackberry phones. It has over 10,000 fans on its Facebook page.
Zenga TV works purely on advertising with more than 60 brands currently, most of them from India. It got its break when it bagged Pepsi during its telecast of IPL 2009. Cadbury, Red Bull, Aditya Birla, Fiat are some of the other brands it has deals with. Both video and banner ads are present but what is prevalent more is video ads that are either pre roll or mid roll. Industry sources put the CPT for a video ad at Rs 300- 350 and a banner ad at Rs 180-190. The annual revenue would be around Rs 13-14 crore per annum. Just like on television, depending on the customer's brand campaign the ads can be modified such as L-shaped ads or bugs. It can also be targeted based on content, channel and geography. A team of five works on ad sales.
Media planners seem to be skeptical despite Zenga TV's claims. Ignitee digital media planner Saurav Kumar says that it is a good advertising platform if the client is targeting mobile phone customers. However, he adds that mobile phone commerce is still at a very nascent stage. "There is not much ROI on mobile advertising," points out Kumar. Lodestar Universal vice president Deepak Netram believes that Zenga TV is yet to gain critical mass but as an add-on, it is a great platform available.
Money spent on mobile advertising is just five to ten per cent of the total as of now and the only way an increase can be seen is when the coverage of 3G increases and the price of 3G subscription decreases. In a mobile TV market of 30 million dollars, Momin claims Zenga TV owns about 60 per cent of it. "If you ask me, mobile TV advertising is the future," says Hiremath. -
Why Mobile TV will be the Future?
25 May 2011
The digital platform has slowly and steadily become one of the most significant areas for broadcasters today from both, the programming and the marketing point of view. With the digital platform going from strength to strength, various players in the television space are more than eager to gain from the same. Most of the players in the Hindi GEC space have launched their channels on YouTube, which consist of content that is aired daily on television. These are also regularly updated to keep the audiences at par with the daily episodes.
Apart from the television-related content, there has also been an advent of specialised content that players such as Bindass have created for the web for greater audience engagement. Channels apart, platforms such as Ditto TV are in plans to launch specially created content for viewers.
With an objective to stream premium quality shows, Star India launched Star Player a few years ago, which is the online video destination for premium copyrighted content from the STAR Network shows and news to other web original content. This platform allows Star India to exploit synergies within its own ecosystem and create a better delivery system for advertisers, wherein they engage meaningfully with their audience via the STAR Network.
The mobile TV boom
Apart from the digital platform, mobile television platform has been steadily gaining significance, with more and more players in the broadcast space associating with various such services to enable live streaming of their programming content to their target viewers. What has also contributed to the on growing popularity of mobile TV is the recent upsurge of the mobile, tablet and smartphone trend as well as the upswing of download services provided by Blackberry, Apple or Android. This has led to audience penetration in a large way. Also, with the 3G service coming into fore, streaming of live TV content has become much easier.
Zenga TV in 2009 was the live video streaming provider for IPLT20 and also delivered Live IPL in 2010 on YouTube. Zenga TV also holds the rights to Viacom18 Channels such as Colors and MTV and has done many live events such as Sunburn from Goa and Crunch for MTV.
Commenting on the increasing popularity of mobile TV, Shabir Momin, MD and CTO, Zenga TV stated, Through Zenga TV, we are binding a relationship, partnership with brands and contents on demand. What is also important to understand is that the popularity of content differs on the digital and the mobile platform as opposed to that on television. Hence, our first priority is our users whom we depend on for opinions and suggestions in terms of content. We also have our content evaluation team who decides on the content that we plan to introduce or experiment with.
Recently, Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) also launched its channels Big RTL Thrill and Big Magic on Ditto TV which were launched earlier by the digital arm of ZEE, Zee News Media.
According to Vishal Malhotra, Business Head, New Media, ZEE, while people engage with on-demand content internationally, in India people stick to the live TV format. Eventually there will be a marriage of both the content that is going online as well as on television, with different adaptations taking place.
IndiaCast, a joint venture between TV18 and Viacom18 that distributes TV channels across various platforms, also announced its partnership for live streaming of twenty popular and regional channels
Sushma Jhaveri, COO, Madison Media Infinity stated, Today a lot of viewers cannot view TV since they are not at home or at a place where they can watch live TV. It all started with IPL few years ago. It was streamed live on the internet. With 3G now, it easier to stream content live on mobiles as well. Also, since the universe of viewers through mobile is still relatively insignificant to affect viewership on TV sets, fragmentation of the audience base worldwide take place.
iStream, which streams content of over 85 channels & English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam, has entered into an exclusive partnership with Ten Sports for live streaming and video on demand rights for the upcoming India Palestine Football Match across all online and mobile platforms, globally. Earlier iStream has hosted UEFA Euro 2012, India Sri Lanka cricket series, US Open 2012, Brazilian National Football League and I-League, among others.
On the international front, there is Hulu TV, which is a subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, CBS, Nickelodeon, and many other networks and studios.
Monetisation through associations With a lot of such associations taking place between mobile television platforms and broadcasters, there is an increase in content that is being made available. Given the fact that today's viewers are also present extensively on the digital platform, helps make these propositions quite useful for both, the broadcasters as well as the service providers. From the broadcasters'S point of view, this would lead to an increase in reach across it target audience profile. But on the other hand, mobile platforms would derive their revenue through ads as well as partnerships with brands.
Talking about the monetisation aspect, Momin stated, Our revenue is basically advertising driven. With the market picking up, the revenue is also on an upswing. We have also associated with handset manufacturers for licensing; it has worked well for us.
Agreeing with the same, PM Balakrishna, COO, Allied Media, shared that these associations provide a win-win situation for broadcasters. Apart from the increase in the reach that these services provide, there is also an influx of advertisers which further benefit the broadcasters. Hence, these associations would translate in an increase in both, revenue as well as viewership.
Malhotra added here, I am a firm believer of the fact that if the content is good, then the audience will pay, which has been seen in case of Netflix, itunes, etc. which are still doing well compared to the other free services available. There is sizeable chunk of the audience who will pay for good content and from the broadcaster's point of view, it is the safest model for them. In a country like India, it is not possible to bank on a free model since the cost of delivering content is far higher than the revenue generated.
The road ahead With the different programming content available on mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, entertainment boxes and connected TVs, what lies ahead for these mobile television platforms remains the lingering question.
For live sports and events, yes, one can see lot of viewership happening. Though its convenient for the viewer, its not easy on the eyes. Hence, this would definately take some time before it -
We plan to add another 200 channels in the next 2 months
14 Apr 2011
How big is the mobile TV app market inIndia and what is your market share?The mobileTV application market is aroundRs 25-30 mn in India, out of which ZengaTV holds about 65-70%. Video consumption within live TV, recorded TV, movieconsumption, shows, etc, is projected togrow 300 times in the next 3 years as it hasalready shown 10-fold growth this year inconsumption as compared to the last year.The whole trend has changed withbehavior pattern of the consumer, earlierpeople used to have channel loyalty butnow they have become very mood specific. The video consumption is going toexplode and grow as everything is nowbeing consolidated to mobile phones.
How many subscribers are there in Indiaand what is your business model?At Zenga TV, we have around 20-22 mnusers every month. Zenga TV browser canstream 150 channels and we are expectedto support another 200 channels in thenext 2 months which will take the tally to350 channels.
There are 2 models of operations inIndia. Most of the other players are inthe subscription space so they charge theusers for giving the content; we decidednot to do this and give that for free so theusers don't have to pay anything when itcomes to Zenga.
When was this app launched and howmany people have used it on mobilephones so far?
We debuted in 2009 with IPL but thattime it was not an app butjust a browserbased service and now we have appalso but those are only standardize forWindows, Androids, and i-phone. We stillhave 80% of the people coming throughmobile browsers rather then comingthrough applications.
We give service free to the users wemake money from advertisements fromlicencing our technology as a service to themobile handset manufacturer and now wehave also started doing data revenue sharewith the operators. We have just closed 2deals and have 9 more deals to close andcan talk about 3 months down the line. Weare driving a lot of traffic to them that's whywe have asked for a fair revenue share.
Nationally, you have done well. Couldyou name some of your major international tie-ups?The company's application is picking uplot of international content from theMiddle East, the US, Australia, Europe andwe are now launchinginternational channels in their respective languages. We aregrowing to launch in German, French,Spanish, Arabic in the next 2 monthsand then eventually we will scale up to18 internally language in the next 1 year.We were the first one to actuallywent to cloud and the only one which is100% on cloud. Our servers are placed in9 locations throughout the world so wecan launch from anywhere to anywherewithout any offices.V&D Correspondentvadmail&cybermedia.co.in -
All eyes on this
17 Mar 2011
According to a recent IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) report, India's online advertising market is set to touch Rs2,938 crore in 2013-14, growing at a consistent clip of around 30 per cent. This includes search, display, mobile, e-mail and video advertising as well as social media advertising, which were earlier valued at Rsl,750 crore in 2012, growing by 29 per cent over the previous year. For a while now, the market has witnessed a significant shift towards online ad spends, search and display making up a large chunk of this. However, of late, video advertising seems to be picking up pace thanks to the proliferation of Websites and apps offering video content and enabling one to watch live TV as well. This in turn has opened up additional revenue streams for players, who often rely on a subscription based model and tie-ups with telecom operators for revenue.This sudden traction can be attributed to a booming app economy, coupled with a growing number of users consuming such content onlineand low cost smartphones flooding the market. According to the report, video advertising now constitutes around 7 per cent (Rs150 crore) of the online advertising market. While you have Websites and apps like YouTube, Bigflix, Ditto TV and others offering such services, many players are betting big on this segment in the coming months. After all, what better way to reach out to a potentially large untapped audience?
For instance, the current IPL season has been grabbing eyeballs not just on TV but on mobile as well, as more and more users tune in to catch the action on their smartphones. nexGTv, which won the mobile broadcasting rights to live stream Pepsi IPL 2013, has already sold out most of its ad inventory. Brands have the option of advertising between overs and breaks, banner ads and short video ads before the live stream launches. NexGTv claims that in less than 20 days of IPL, over 1.5 million users were added and has so far received over 15 million hits.
"The last 7-8 months have seen significant traction in terms of adspends," says G. D. Singh, director, DigiVive, which operates nexGTv. The app which launched video streaming a year-and-a-half ago has received 12 million downloads till date, offering sports and live television including entertainment channels. He points out that after the rollout of 3G services, networks have scaled up to a level where it's become possible to stream video applications far more easily, thus encouraging brands to look at this segment with renewed interest. Currently, nexGTv offers 105 channels out of which 35 are paid and the remaining free. Singh believes monetising content has become easier through such revenue streams.
Monetising content They've been seeing around 1 million ad impressions a day. Singh points out that while the first half of IPL started out slow in terms of ads, the second half has picked up. They expect to sell out most of their inventory in the next few days. While one can largely find technology brands like Samsung and BlackBerry advertising on such platforms, other consumer brands arecoming on board as well. Typically, the ad inventory is auctioned through a bidding process.
However, players often complain that tying up with telecom operators on a revenue share basis isn't always sustainable as the operators end up taking a larger cut. For most players then, it comes down to looking at other avenues to monetise content. Some like Ditto TV (launched by Zee) also operate on the OTT (over the top) model to avoid such costs.
Zenga TV is another player that has been seeing gains through ad revenues. This Web/mobile TV service offers free streaming, with 150 live channels and video on demand (VOD) content, including music, movies and others. Currently, the company has rights to a base of 18,000 movies and 40,000 music tracks. "Almost 60 per cent of revenues now come from advertisements," says Shabir Momiin, CTO & MD, Zenga TV. For their platform, video on demand generates significant traction, constituting 60 per cent of their offerings. Live TV makes up the remaining 40 per cent. He adds that over the last 6-7 months there's been a spike in the number of advertisements and brands coming on board, resulting in a significant jump in the number of impressions.
Interestingly for Zenga TV, 40 per cent of users are from metros, and the remaining come from Tier II and III cities. They currently have around 23 million month on month users. Zenga TV says that it is also one of the largest content suppliers to YouTube.
Prashant Mehta, CEO, Komli Media, an ad network, points out that one of the reasons for the surge in ad spends is the increase in the number of users moving to smaller devices like mobile phones and spending more and more time on the Internet. Another advantage for these players is strategic tie-ups with handset manufacturers.
As more users move to consuming content on their mobile phones, coupled with the number of low cost handsets being purchased and expected fall in data rates, it looks like video advertising is set to get a boost in the coming months. -
Lumia and Nokia smartphone users can stream live videos
22 Jan 2011
NEW DELHI: If you happen to own the Lumia, the latest offering from Nokia, you can simply download an app from Zenga TV and begin live streaming of an impromptu rock concert being organised by the handset maker and MTV over today and tomorrow. Delhi-based Zenga TV, which will power the live streaming capabilities, revealed that it will offer this service exclusively for Nokia Lumia and Series 60 phones for two days, coinciding with the launch of Nokia's Windows phone Lumia.
The innovative FOODFOOD mobile app not only gives users the opportunity to watch delicious dishes being prepared live on television but also prepare them at home. The app contains recipes of all the shows from the TV channel and website. The app also contains video recipes from the chefs and stars of FOODFOOD, as well as simple tips and advice. Zenga TV chief executive officer Shabir Momiin told ET that MTV and Nokia are conducting live concerts where a rock band will begin performing at a location without any advance publicity. The event will last for 4-6 hours. It's a similar concept of what MTV does internationally, now they're bringing it here. Who ever is using Lumia and nokia series 60 phones can download the application from a url which will be revealed at the event, and stream it live free of cost. All streams will show up on MTV's website and mobile platform, after instant auditing, he added. The event will happen simultaneously in three cities in prominent locations, he adds. Zenga TV will introduce this application for all mobile phone platforms including Windows Mobile phones in January next year. The app would be integrated with the user's contact list and social networking sites, allowing users to show and share live videos online almost instantly. "Even series 40 phones which start from Rs 2,500 will be able to stream live videos. The app works on 2.5G and only needs a GPRS connection," Momiin added. Zenga TV shows popular television channels online and has other applications on cricket to its name. Zenga bought global mobile rights of IPLT20 in 2009 allowing mobile phone users to watch continuous and live cricket matches on mobile over a 2.5G network. -
CIOs are the & acute Change Leaders & acute
5 May 2010
Officer by 2014 and 17 per cent expect to see a Chief Data Officer. CIOs should embrace growing digital data and innovation needs, and not stand back from them. Also, CIOs who intend to stay with their firms for more than two years should be developing digital business, business information governance and innovation leadership capabilities in themselves and in their teams. CIOs who intend to retire or step back into other roles should help their organizations by incubating next-generation talent in the areas of digital media, information exploitation, and digitally enabled product and service innovation. This can be done inside as well as outside the IT department
CIOs and leadership teams must crystallize what they mean by digital strategy and work with a small subgroup from the executive team to define what "digital" means and how it manifests in the broader business strategy. They must ensure all elements of the digital strategy link clearly to the core business strategy, and that they do not form an independent, possibly distracting, programme of change.Business leaders intend to change the mix of leadership talent needed to make that change ? with Chief Data Officers, Chief Digital Officers and new heads of innovation on the way. A recent survey found that 19 per cent of the business leaders expect to see a Chief Digital
The role of CIOs has become so critical in this changing and dynamic world where data, analytics, automation, right information at the right time, behaviour pattern, predictive analysis of user behaviour, cost optimization, moving to cloud and born on cloud, scalable architecture not keeping in mind the local market but the global market in mind have become key foundations of a successful business and not just a great business model or industry,? said Shabir Momiin, CTO & MD, Zenga TV.From the days when CIOs had limited system storage and controlled information generation, to a time where all business processes are using some sort of Information System, the challenge has grown bigger.
The reason is the increasing volume of information that is now being generated and processed within a company, and from external entities like suppliers, partners, customers, etc. Amit Gautam, Founder & Director of Technology Solutions, Upside Learning, has expressed his views. He says, ?While the volume of information may still be handled efficiently, it is a fact that today organizations also have a parallel digital entity [or a more integrated entity]. This entity generates information in an unplanned, unexpected and mostly unpredictable manner. Thus, a holistic approach has become a necessity today. And to achieve better results, this approach has to be outside-in, instead of inside-out.?However, the internet and now the mobile revolution have made this evolution much faster than can be kept pace with using traditional approaches and tools. Today, we need a very agile, quickly-adaptable-to-change kind of approach to handle the challenges posed by the changing technological landscape. Major challenges faced by IT include: Mobility, BYOD work Culture, Social Footprint and Cloud.Today, everything is mobile, which also means that office work and staff is mobile too. The complexities of a device in the hands of employees and one that is always ON are mind-boggling. The BYOD (Bring context of strong MAM (Mobile Applications Management) and MDM (Mobile Devices Management) secure and hassle-free access to information on own devices has to be ensured. Like any other organization, IT organizations also need to grapple with their social footprint. The challenge is to leverage the social media, ensuring that it is used in the context of information security and other business principles. Placing restrictions on social media for employees tends to rebound adversely and giving a free hand also may result in risky situations. The balance is critical and challenging.Industry, at large, is moving to cloud technologies which offer numerous benefits over conventional on-premise installations. CIOs should have a concrete plan over adopting cloud technologies without compromising information security and choose among Private Cloud or Public Cloud or combination of both depending upon the application and security. Bipul Parua, CTO & Co-Founder, Knowlarity, has expressed his views on this. He says, ?Increasingly, Cloud technologies are accessible over mobile either via mobile application or via mobile browser and with increasing penetration of smartphones, Cloud technologies along with smartphones will play a very important role in future technologies in the industry.?
Major Challenges faced by IT Organizations
The good and bad thing about business dynamics is that it keeps evolving constantly.Your Own Device) concept also brings with it the need and challenges of Enterprise Information Security and Data Handling. The focus needs to be high on BYOD, but in the
The Biggest Challenge: Information Sharing Vs Information Security
Besides the above mentioned challenges, IT managers also have to create a balance between Information sharing and Information security. Information sharing is the call of the day. Everyone in today?s business circles wants to be updated and flooded with information from all the sources. The same information is then shared by the leaders to their team and so on. But the major factor is to strike a perfect balance between how much information has to be shared and with what level of security? Sudhir Rao, Chief Technologist, Enterprise Services, HP India, commented, ?There is a very thin balance between the two terms. CIOs have to see the security posture and the kind of information that can be shared. For instance, if I am an enterprise, I can have my core ERP in private network or in traditional ecosystem and if I
Risk Analysis CIOs are playing a significant role in areas like financial services where speed and accuracy in decisions is one of the most important ingredients for success. Throwing more light on this, Ganesh.S, CEO, Dun & Bradstreet Technology and Data Services Private Ltd, said, ?CIOs need to develop an information the process of development of methodical information technology specifications, models and guidelines, using a variety of Information Technology notations, for example UML, within a coherent Information Technology architecture framework, following formal and informal Information Technology solution, enterprise, and infrastructure architecture processes.
Final Words CIOs play a more strategic, integrated and proactive role to help their organizations meet their vision and goals. They are expected to be aware of the business strategy, key business drivers, competitive landscape, emerging trends and shift in customer preferences to formulate and implement the technology roadmap that can build capabilities required to attain and sustain competitive advantage.
Technology Archiving Vs Technology Architecture Technology Archiving is simply a way by which we store the records to be used for future references. Usually, they are compiled and preserved to be accessed later on, while the Technology Architecture isvalue chain which converts raw data into actionable insights which can be integrated in key decisions for mass customization of products to create differentiated offerings for better product adoption and lower costs while reducing business risks and improving capital deployment.? -
The mobile TV boom
23 Apr 2009
Apart from the digital platform, mobile television platform has been steadily gaining significance, with more and more players in the broadcast space associating with various such services to enable live streaming of their programming content to their target viewers.
What has also contributed to the on growing popularity of mobile TV is the recent upsurge of the mobile, tablet and smartphone trend as well as the upswing of download services provided by Blackberry, Apple or Android. This has led to audience penetration in a large way. Also, with the 3Gservice coming into fore, streaming of live TV content has become much easier.
Zenga TV in 2009 was the live video streaming provider for IPLT20 and also delivered Live IPL in 2010 on YouTube.
Zenga TV also holds the rights to Viacom 18 Channels such as Colors and MTV and has done many live events such as Sunburn from Goa and Crunch for MTV. Shabir Momin,
MD & CTO, Zenga Media said, "It is absolutely free and will remain free. User will have to pay for his own data charges, whether the user is using an unlimited data plan or wifi it is up to the user. We do not charge anything. It is available on all mobile-phones, even featured phones which have GPRS, and a browser and player with streaming capability. One can use it on PC,Tab, Phones, and some connected large screen devices also. We have developed a very unique low bandwidth streaming engine which allows us to deliver right high quality content on low bandwidth unlike anybody else in the global market. -
Simply Marvellous
17 Mar 2009
was a little reluctant to really invest my time inreading Business & Economy, a magazine recommended by one of my colleagues, until I picked it up. But, honestly speaking, the magazine's latestissue on "India's Infrastructure Implosion"was simply marvellous.The magazine had successfully streamlinedseveral articles 0n various issues with updatedand relevant information into one tight package. Moreover, I really liked the approach of the magazine in assimilating figures. In fact, I was unaware of many facts thatyour magazine had highlighted in different issues. I trulylook forward to continue reading this magazine with morecaptivating and brilliant stories
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The journey of ZengaTV towards a full fledged mobile TV company In talks with Abhishek Joshi, CEO, ZengaTV
21 Jan 2009
Launched back in 2009, ZengaTV is a one of its kind of mobile TV services with live video streaming for TV channels, other entertainment, reality shows and news content. It provides free streaming to users for its content and its primary source of revenue includes advertisements and content redistribution. ZengaTV was the exclusive, mobile, live video streaming provider for IPL T20 in year 2009 where it streamed Live IPL T20 matches on mobile and managed the delivery across 140 countries. It had also delivered the Live IPL in 2010 on Youtube and it holds the exclusive rights to Viacom 18 Channels like Colors TV and MTV. Iamwire caught up with Abhishek Joshi, CEO, ZengaTV to understand how is it working, its revenue model and way forward for Live Video streaming service providers in India.
Tell us something about ZengaTV? ZengaTV was founded in 2009. We started our line of business with IPL as the exclusive mobile partners for IPL worldwide and were delivering to 140 countries at that time. That was our entrance in the mobile video streaming sector. Post that we did IPL for two years, than we managed Viacom 18 (which is colors and MTV) for 3 years. From 0 channel base in 2009, we have now moved on to 140 live channels, we have rights for 18,000 movies which also include Hollywood movies and with this, we have 40,000 music tracks. Right now, we have 22mn unique visitors per month out of which 18 mn plus are on mobile which generates over 300 mn video views a month, that?s the spectrum we operate and it is free to the end user service. We do not do subscriptions and also its free to the user. However one has to go to the website and download the application and start streaming content for free.
What opportunity you saw in 2009 that encouraged you to come up with this and partnered with IPL directly? What value proposition you presented to IPL? We started working on the technology sometime back in mid 2006, it took us two and a half year to develop the technology because its all in-house. We realized way back in 2006 that the video is the way forward and we were always excited to do something on the video front. Having said that, to stream that video either on mobile or internet your bandwidth has to be strong, while at that time 3G was not heard off and the video content had to be streamed on 2.5G network. Also if you travel in other countries either to the developed countries despite of having 4G when you walk down to roads, 4G falls to 3G and 3G to 2.5 and it goes up and down.
We started working on technology which helps videos to stream at 2.5G and that was the germ of the idea. When we were ready with the service, the platform IPL came to us and we had an opportunity to partner with them because we were the only one who were up to the video streaming on mobile, as there was no one else. Infact we introduced video streaming in India for the first time and IPL wanted to do something new so we partnered with them. We were also powering the IPL Youtube streaming for one year and were also handling IPLT20.com and CLT20.com for them.
Who is backing Zenga? Zenga is not yet invested, it?s a self funded company. Thankfully, its the only company in the space that is profitable, and we are profitable in past two year on the track, Shabir Momin is the founder and the CTO, Vikramjeet Roy is one of the partners of the company.
How do you say you are profitable, what?s your revenue model? Up till last year, advertising was not our core revenue model. But since last year, the advertisement market has actually opened up and people have started investing in mobile and video platforms. Infact we are the first one to introduce pre-video ads in India on mobile, i.e. when you load the add there is a video ad to be played. The different value propositions which we give to the advertisers and brands is the core reason why they have been investing on us, ad model is one revenue source. Secondly, we have also partnered with some of the telecom operators from which we get the share of data revenues.
We directly do not work with the operators, neither we work on the subscription model, we have our own platform where viewers come and we stream for free, unlike other players who work with operators and charge subscription fees. Over the years when we grew through a certain size, operators came to us and they started to ask for relationship with us. Later they started giving us a share of data revenue in terms that if you are an operator and you are surfing on Zenga from mobile, you are consuming data and we get the share of that data being consumed. We also do content re-distribution, the content over which have exclusive right to, we re-distribute it to some players.
How are partnerships been done with the channels? Is that the channel which wants you to stream or you have the exclusive rights for streaming? It actually works both ways, exclusivity in certain cases and non exclusivity in most of the cases. If i have to explain ?who i am??, i would say, ?I am Tata sky on mobile with advertising rights?, thats the definition of me. Even Tata sky doesn?t have its own advertising rights on channel to sell.
You can insert your own ad slots in real time? Are you suppose to sell those ads to advertisers first of all? Yes, we have rights to insert ads and sell those ads to advertisers or brands. - 1
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