In a bid to strengthen its content portfolio, Bharti Airtel on Tuesday launched a new music streaming app, Wynk Tube, which will give users the option to watch and listen music on the go. Even though the telco is not creating content, but through partnerships, it has now created apps for music, movies, live TV, books, etc, which are offered free to its customers. Customers, however, have to pay for data usage.
Since too many apps may be difficult to manage, the company is also integrating most of the content on its MyAirtel app, which was launched originally to manage a customers’ account. Through MyAirtel app, a customer can see usage, transaction history, new offers, payment due date, etc. However, now the company has started integrating content from other apps to the MyAirtel app.
“We have fully integrated the payments bank app into MyAirtel. Also, content from Airtel TV like movies and Wynk music is being integrated. Going forward, there will be more content available on the app,” Sameer Batra, CEO – content & apps, Bharti Airtel, told FE.
Asked if the company is also looking at creating content, Batra said there are no plans for that and the company will continue to work through partnerships. “We will look into exclusive partnerships for content,” Batra added.
The company is also looking at new sectors to drive its content offerings. Batra said the company will continue to look into ways to aggregate content and provide better offerings to its customers.
The new music streaming app — Wynk Tube — was launched looking into the needs of customers in tier 2 and 3 towns and villages.
The app, which has been built by the company’s in-house team, aims to simplify the digital entertainment experience for millions of users in small towns and villages.
Batra said Airtel has used a combination of smart, simple and intuitive interface backed by machine learning algorithm to power recommendations and personalise the app.
Wynk Tube, which is an extension of Wynk Music, allows users to stream audio and video of music tracks within the same interface. Users can instantly switch between audio and video mode with a single touch. The app is currently available for Android smartphones.
“Wynk Music gave shape to our journey to the first 100 million users and we believe Wynk Tube will accelerate our journey to the next 100 million users,” Batra added.
The app, which is just 5 MB in size, will be available in 12 Indian regional languages (including Kannada, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Bhojpuri) besides English and Hindi. It also features deep voice enabled search to help users discover their favourite music.
