Hasta La Motion!

FanCode, the multi-sport aggregator platform from the house of Dream Sports, has completed one year with over 15 million app installs. Since the launch in March 2019, FanCode has partnered with multiple sports brands and events and brought sports content to India, across nine sports and over 50 sporting events. The brand has also launched the ‘fastest interactive live scores’ experience and comprehensive live streaming of long-tail sports and some premium cricket tournaments.

In the last one year, the company has significantly enhanced the sports experience for fans by providing interactive data overlays during live streaming of a match, news on the sports industry across the globe, bite-sized video content like match highlight packages, chat with sports personalities in a new-age format, and expert opinions. The latest offering to the fastest live scores for cricket is now delivered with multimedia commentary. This is supplemented by interactive content and infographics for milestones achieved by players or teams during the match and also a detail-oriented ‘Live Blog’.

FanCode co-founder Yannick Colaco said, “We are thrilled at the tremendous progress that we have made in just a year. Over 15 million strong users in one year is an indication of how Indian sports fans are looking for deeper and comprehensive engagement with the sports they love. As we roll into year two, we plan to launch several innovative and exciting features for sports fans. We will also continue to build FanCode to provide the best-in-class experience that sports fans deserve even during a time when sports across the globe have come to a halt. The reliance on digital platforms to stay connected to sports has further increased acceptance for the platform, and we expect consumption of sports to reach its peak once live sports are back.”

Adjudged as the “Best Sports Startup” at FICCI India Sports Awards 2019, FanCode forged over 16 exclusive partnerships with global sports associations and leagues across sports such as cricket, football, kabaddi, basketball, volleyball, and even American football. Some of the key partners include The Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB), West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Bangladesh Cricket Board for showcasing the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), National Football League (NFL) including the world’s biggest annual sporting event – the Super Bowl, and I-League. FanCode also became the NBA’s (National Basketball Association) first live streaming partner in India.

FanCode co-founder Prasana Krishnan added, “The dependencies on digital mediums are significantly growing in sports over the years, thanks to the easy access to smartphones and cheaper data. The internet made access to interactive sports content a reality including live streaming, live scores, match analysis, fantasy research, which have been the strong pillars of growth for FanCode over the year. To stay true to our objective of being the single destination of choice for the avid sports fans in India, we are all set for the next phase of growth with feature additions, right from e-commerce to fantasy research tools. Forging deep and direct fan relationships will be a crucial differentiator in the long run for the industry, and we are building this base for the next leap.”

FanCode was launched in March 2019 to offer a broad spectrum of long-tail sports and contextual commerce providing comprehensive sports experience to avid sports fans in India. Dream Sports, a sports tech company, is the parent company of FanCode that also houses brands like Dream11 and DreamX.

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As the nation continues its efforts to come together in its fight against COVID-19, Viacom18 Media, one of the leading entertainment conglomerate with five lines of business, which reaches out to over 600 million viewers each month, has rolled out yet another specially curated campaign with a digital-first approach, #DilSeSalaam. 

#DilSeSalaam is a tribute and salute to DTH and Cable TV operators across India who continue to make efforts in ensuring that viewers are being entertained without interruption even during such unprecedented times. Being a responsible and humane network, Viacom18 has always recognised that DTH and Cable TV operators are the backbone of the broadcast industry and it is purely because of their hard work and diligence that television viewing across India hasn’t faced any interruptions.

 Currently live on Viacom18’s social media channels, #DilSeSalaam, is a 50 second video with a message straight from Viacom18’s pool of actors. Popular actors from across Viacom18’s most popular shows such as Bharati Singh, Avika Gor, Rannvijay Singha, Gaelyn Mendonca, Meera Deosthale, Nimrit Kaur Ahluwalia, Smita Bansal have come forward to thank operators for their hard work and constant efforts during this time in keeping India entertained. Supporting the cable operators and DTH players, Viacom18 has network also urged its viewers to move to digital payment options for payment of their cable and DTH bills with an on-air campaign.

Indiacast, the distribution arm for TV18 and Viacom18 has been working consistently with DTH and cable TV operators to ensure that the entertainment needs of India are being catered to amidst the lockdown. Speaking about the campaign, Indiacast CEO Anuj Gandhi Group said, “Since the pandemic outbreak and the lockdown was imposed, our cable TV and DTH operators have been working relentlessly to ensure there is no disruption in TV viewing across the country. We have seen TV viewership surge across India and this has been possible due to no disruption in the last mile delivery by DTH service providers and cable operators. #DilSeSalaam is our way of saying thank you to our cable and DTH operators for their constant effort and hard work during these tough times and for ensuring that our viewers aren’t missing out on their daily entertainment. We are truly grateful for all their support and efforts over the past month and assure them that they have our full support wherever and whenever required.”

 Viacom18 has brought back several popular GEC shows on the network such as Mahakali, Khatra Khatra Khatra, Dance Deewane, Naagin, Comedy Nights with Kapil Sharma, Khatron Ke Khiladi and more. The network has also innovated to create original content such as Hum Tum Aur Quarantine, MTV Roadies LIVE Auditions, Hustle from Home and others.

Boasting 650+ hours of fresh kids’ content on TV, the new line-up on Nickelodeon has new episodes of Motu Patlu as Fool Masti with Motu Patlu followed by Shiva and Rudra. On Sonic, the constant war between Doggy Don and the three mice in ‘Fool Week of Pakdam Pakdai’ are going to take the kids on a rollercoaster ride of laughter. 

In addition to this, Sonic will air a fresh line-up of episodes for Keymon Ache and Ninja Hattori. Taking the kids into a new world of fun and entertainment will be the new movies of Motu Patlu and Rudra on Nick and Sonic in the coming days. Nick Jr., the channel for toddlers will also air new episodes of Paw Patrol.

 The 24 hour movie channels from the network – Colors Cineplex, Colors Kannada Cinema, Colors Gujarati Cinema and Colors Bangla Cinema are entertaining viewers with movies content library of 2500 hrs, 1300 hrs, 780 hrs (including plays) and 540 hrs, respectively.

 Leveraging the strength of its network, Viacom18 has remained emotionally connected with millions of its viewers and will continue to provide complete support during these difficult times. Viacom18 had previously launched #RahoGharPeSafe to create awareness around best practices during this period. Conceptualized in partnership with Gozoop, #DilSeSalaam is currently live across all Viacom18’s social media channels. 

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Paytm First Games has announced the launch of ‘Ludo Lakhpati’, which will be India’s first and biggest Ludo tournament with a prize pool of Rs. 1 lakh every day. The multi-player championship will be held from 1 May to 5 April, and players can register for free on the Paytm First Games app and on the Paytm app from 1 May onward.

The ‘Ludo Lakhpati’ tournament will be organised in an online, knockout format, and players will compete across different stages. This will be India’s biggest Ludo tournament, both in terms of participation and prize money. To further add to the excitement around this tournament and make it more popular, the final rounds of this championship will be live-streamed on YouTube and Paytm Inbox.

Paytm First Games COO Sudhanshu Gupta said, “Ludo is one of the most popular games in the country and its popularity has soared even more in the last 3-4 weeks. We launched Paytm First Games Ludo within a week of lockdown and the game has grown at a staggering pace. 4 lakh users play the game every day with 1 to 2 lakh new users joining the game everyday. With Ludo Lakphati, we aim to raise the stakes in the game and make it even more exciting for the players. ”

Paytm First Games sees more than half a million daily active players on the platform, spending anywhere between 32 to 45 minutes. With over 75,000 new users joining the platform every day, it has witnessed a 200 percent growth in its user base in the last one month. Paytm First Games’ recently concluded e-sports challenge ‘Clash Royale’ saw over 11,000 registrations for the tournament.

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WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks has brought on board Carlene Tan as the new director of original production and development for its Kids division in Asia Pacific. As departmental lead, she will focus on identifying new IP and producing original series for Cartoon Network, Boomerang and POGO.

Carlene Tan

Based in Singapore, Tan will immediately get involved with the current slate of Asia Pacific originals including the International Emmy-nominated Lamput and the just-launched Monster Beach. She will also help steer the long-running Roll No. 21 series in India, as well as both Titoo and Lambuji Tinguji, which will launch on POGO later this year.

Commenting on Tan’s appointment, WarnerMedia Entertainment Networks Asia Pacific Kids head Leslie Lee said, “Tan combines strategic business experience with her love of storytelling to connect with audiences. Her relationships with studios and talent in the regional and global animation ecosystem will be instrumental in bringing new stories to life.”

Prior to WarnerMedia, Tan developed original animation with The Walt Disney Company (Southeast Asia) and was the studio head at One Animation where she produced Oddbods and Insectibles. Before that, with the founder of Dreamworks Animation, she managed the Singapore arm of Cloudpic Global and produced various digital projects for mobile apps launched across Asia. She was also one of the founding members of Singapore’s first animation studio, Peach Blossom Media.

 Besides Tan, Hoyoung Jung from Lee’s team has been promoted as the APAC Kids director of acquisitions and co-productions. Based in Japan, Jung is now tasked with the discovery and negotiation of third-party programming for WarnerMedia’s Kids platforms in the region, and will be the face of the networks at key international markets and trade shows.

 Jung is a former Mattel employee who worked in the strategic IP partnerships team responsible for APAC content distribution in Hong Kong. He also worked at Daewon Media, which represented iconic Japanese IP, in Korea, such as Power Rangers, Doraemon and One Piece.

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The sixth edition of the report on ‘Crisis Consumption on TV and Smartphones‘ jointly released by BARC India-Nielsen Media have found the Kids sector to witness 43 per cent growth between 18 to 24 April, in comparison to the pre-COVID period. Prior to this time period, kids viewership stood at 39 per cent. 

Maximum growth in the sector is seen to still come from the morning slots especially between 9 to 10 am, while the prime time struggles to match up to it. With the ongoing lockdown since 25 March, viewership in this genre has only seen a rise with kids having limited or no access to outdoor entertainment, games or school time. In fact, the kids sector continues its steady position at 7 per cent in genre-wise share compared to pre-COVID period.

While the live-action projects have been stalled with the productions being stopped, it’s Motu Patlu, Little Singham, Rudra, Honey Bunny, Fukrey Boyzzz, Chhota Bheem and others who are saving the day for kids. Kids broadcasters have strategically come up with ample hours of fresh content – new episodes, TV movies, contests and interesting campaigns to keep the younger audience hooked.

Coming to Chhota Bheem, this popular animated IP has given a significant boost to DD National’s viewership during the 2:00 -2.30 pm slot. BARC report further reveals that kids aged two to 14 years have contributed 38 per cent of the viewership during that time to the national broadcaster. 

In the Hindi Speaking Market (HSM) 2+ category, the animated show saw a 11 times jump – from 154,000 impressions during the pre-COVID period to 1,729,000 impressions in week 16. In the HSM two to 14 years category, it increased from 34,000 impressions in pre-COVID period to 662,000 impressions in week 16, which was a jump of 20 times.

Since its inception, Chhota Bheem has remained a fan favourite, one of the few animated IPs to have enjoyed worldwide fame. In fact, Bheem will turn a year stronger tomorrow, 1 May. To celebrate his birthday, Green Gold Animation has announced two contests – ‘Sending a video birthday message’ for him and ‘Bheem Birthday drawing challenge’ to keep Chhota Bheem fans engaged and entertained during these tough times.

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