Tata Play Binge, the over-the-top (OTT) platform from the house of direct-to-home (DTH) service provider company Tata Play plans to increase the number of streaming platforms to 25 by the end of the current fiscal year, Anurag Kumar, chief communications officer, Tata Play (earlier known as Tata Sky), told Brandwagon Online. “We already have a strong aggregation platform so the idea is to provide more choice to consumers,” he said. The company claims that the OTT app aggregator platform currently houses 17 streaming platforms including Disney+Hotstar, Eros Now, MX Player, Voot Select, Zee 5, among others.
According to Kumar, about two years back, the OTT aggregation platform was available to just Tata Play subscribers but now the company plans to add new customers. “We have reached nearly 10 lakh customers over the platform. There are currently 450 million users of online video or smartphones in the country. Of this, we have about 50 to 60 million people who are willing to pay for subscriptions or OTT apps, hence we aim to target those people,” he said. Users of the app have access to other OTT platforms’ content including the ones behind a paywall, based on the subscription plans they opt for.
In terms of business model, the platform earns a commission for every subscriber provided to individual platforms, the company however declined to share exact details. Tata Play Binge provides five different subscription plans, starting from Rs 59, followed by Rs 99, Rs 175 and Rs 299 under its monthly subscription, and Rs 999 for the annual subscription. “In terms of distribution, the company has recently launched a new set-top-box (STB) Binge Plus, which allows viewers who do not use Amazon Fire TV Stick to access these streaming platforms,” he explained.
Interestingly, the company has added gaming as a new kind of content on the OTT app in partnership with Gamezop. “This was done with an aim to increase app engagement on its platform besides the addition of an array of categories such as web series, movies, live sports, documentaries, music, among others, to consumers,” Kumar said.
Additionally, to market its new platform, Tata Play Binge will launch its ‘Bachha Bachha Jaanta Hai’ campaign which aims to showcase the variety of content available on the platform. The campaign focuses on how consumers who know the name of a certain show or movie may not know where to watch it. According to Kumar, the idea for the campaign comes from ‘whatever you want to watch, watch it on Tata Play Binge’. The campaign will be released across television, print, and social media, besides below-the-line (BTL) platforms.
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