India’s first premium OTT platform,
SonyLIV celebrates 5 glorious years
Press Release
Mumbai, February07, 2018:
Launched in January 2013, SonyLIV, the premium OTT platform of Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN), completes 5 years this month. The launch of SonyLIV set the tone for the OTT industry in India. Thus, SPN pioneered the introduction of the video-on-demand concept in our country.
Over the last 5 years, SonyLIV has grown with the digital ecosystem and garnered key insights on the rise of video content, engaging mobile experience, power of choice to the consumer, transformation in payment mechanisms, data science and machine learning to better understand consumer behaviour better. As a brand, it has also paved the path for other national and international players to enter this category in India.
Aligned to its vision of transforming the video-on-demand space with edgy, relatable and top-notch content, SonyLIV has many first to its credit. Through the journey of 5 years, SonyLIV has not only introduced new content formats like original web-series, including those in regional languages but also established a presence in top Indian metros.
SonyLIV also went beyond the ordinary entertainment and became the first OTT player to have over 4000 hours of food content and over 3000+ live matches and 4000+ hours of football action among other content. The brand has some of the best cricket properties and presently are the exclusive internet and mobile broadcaster for the India Tour of South Africa. SonyLIV has also enriched viewer experience by launching many contextual short films that not only entertain but also mirror trends in society.
SonyLIV is home to the widest range of sporting properties including cricket, football, tennis, WWE, UFC, basketball and much more.
The future for SonyLIV is towards more regional content acquisition and curation to cater to the rural audiences which is where the next wave of consumption is estimated. SonyLIV is also building an app environment for lower bandwidth consumption. SonyLIV is taking strict measure and working closely with all partners to ensure no ad frauds happen while also ensuring brand safety.
Comments:
Uday Sodhi, EVP and Head-Digital Business, Sony Pictures Networks (SPN)
“We take immense pride in the fact that we introduced OTT to India. Over the 5 years, we have learned, grown and been a vital part in building the digital ecosystem in our country. Post the launch of SonyLIV, we have seen a number of home-grown players enter the field along with some international heavyweights. The presence of all these players has further helped increase awareness about OTT as a platform among Indians and created a competitive environment that is beneficial to the industry as a whole. On our 5th anniversary, we would like to thank our viewers, advertisers and partners for being part of this remarkable journey and take this opportunity to reaffirm our commitment towards providing great content and a supreme digital viewing experience. We LIV to Entertain and we will continue to entertain”
About SonyLIV:
SonyLIV is the first premium Video on demand (VOD) service by Sony Pictures Networks’ (SPN) providing multi-screen engagement for users on all devices. Launched in January 2013, it enables users to discover 20 years of rich content from the network channels of Sony Pictures Networks’ Pvt. Ltd. It also provides a rich array of movies, strong line-up of events across all sports, shows, music, product reviews.
With over 37 million app downloads so far, SonyLIV is the first amongst its competition to provide original exclusive premium content. As a true pioneer in its space, SonyLIV launched India’s first-ever original show exclusively for the online platform earlier this year. With #LoveBytes, it became the country’s first digital video-on- demand (VOD) platform to introduce an innovation of this nature. SonyLIV also launched YOLO - You Only Live Once, the first-ever regional language web-series on an OTT platform in India and LIV FIT the first-ever health and wellness segment on an OTT platform in the country. In October 2016, SonyLIV also introduced LIV Kids as its premium content especially designed for children.
The digital platform is a home to over 4000 hours of food content making it the one stop destination for food lovers.
Streaming the biggest football tournament of 2017 – U-17 FIFA World Cup India 2017 and making SonyLIV the most preferred online destination for football fans.