THE ECONOMIC TIMESMX Player is owned by Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), which also owns The Economic Times. With this foray, BCCL has become the latest entrant to tap into the growing web content space.
“Indian media consumption is undergoing a complete overhaul as internet-based streaming platforms are becoming increasingly mainstream,” said Vineet Jain, MD, BCCL.
“MX Player is the first and only Indian entertainment platform combining offline video playing capabilities, online video streaming and music streaming (via Gaana) in a single app to offer the most well-rounded mobile entertainment experience. Its first-inclass, ad-supported premium content model and massive distribution potential would go a long way in helping it establish a massive loyal viewership in both urban and rural India,” Jain added.
In order to reach mass premium audiences across the country, MX Player will launch close to 25 shows in the next 12 months, said Karan Bedi, CEO, MX Player.
MX Player follows the advertising-based model and hosts a large repository of over 1,00,000 hours of licensed content from leading content creators and partner platforms such as Alt Balaji, TVF, Arré and SonyLIV amongst others.
The OTT service will initially offer content in seven Indian languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, Punjabi and Bhojpuri. Later, Malayalam and Kannada content will also be added to the mix.
Since 2012, MX Player has consistently ranked among the top 10 Android apps and is available across - Android, iOS and Web platforms.
“Our vision is to build a platform that caters to every entertainment need of the discerning viewer starting from playing a video in any format, to watching stories across every genre and even listening to music for every mood! As more people move towards consuming content online, we want to create digital-first stories that appeal not only to the urban audiences but also much beyond. We have collaborated with some of the best talent in the industry to create our slate of MX Originals that will bring us a step closer to becoming the go -to destination for entertainment in India,” Bedi said.
And driving synergies with this vision is the new brand ideology wherein MX Player defines ‘Everytainment’ – a promise to deliver entertainment for every mood.
“Everytainment is the core of our product and combines not just all forms of entertainment but also caters to content for every season, every reason, every occasion and most importantly, every mood,” Bedi added. The five new MX Original Series will appeal to different audiences across geographies and demographics.
The originals, which will launch on Wednesday, include ‘Aafat’, which is about five women who break stereotypes while struggling to get married in Delhi’s arranged marriage marketplace; ‘Hey Prabhu’ traces the story of a twitter god who has to navigate the offline troubles of life; ‘ImMature’, A TVF Creation that is a comingof-age story about the many first adventures of three young boys in school; ‘Lots of Love’ (in Tamil and Telugu) is a story of four friends and how a trip changes their lives; and ‘Famously Filmfare’ which goes regional and will see powerhouse actors like Priyamani, Chinmayee, Bhavana Balakrishnan, Surveen Chawla, Abir Chaterjee and Amruta Khanvilkar turning host for different regions through the series.
MX Player has been built from scratch with a simple and intuitive interface and offers sub-one-second latency to its viewers, which translates to instant streaming. By using massive scale data sets, the player has created a world-class recommendation and personalisation engine.
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