Voot strengthens its content slate to drive IPL viewership

Voot, the video streaming platform owned by Viacom18, is strengthening its film slate and entertainment shows, as the Reliance Industries Ltd controlled company prepares to launch a super aggregator app to stream Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket and sports content in the coming months.

Voot, which has so far remained on the fringes of the Indian streaming industry, is looking to premiere a Shahid Kapoor film directly on the service, and has already acquired rights to recent releases like Rocketry: The Nambi Effect, 777 Charlie, Vikram Vedha and Viacom18’s own production Shabaash Mithu.

Voot, which is estimated to have 4-5 million subscribers currently, is eyeing 20-25 million new subscribers on the back of IPL viewership, but it will need other content besides a product and technological revamp to drive such numbers, media and entertainment industry experts said.

“Voot, as a platform, will go through a massive transition in order to stream the IPL. Customer stickiness and high ARPU (average revenue per user), however, will not come from the tournament alone and the company will need to start innovating on films and web shows too, for which it is already making serious efforts,” Karan Taurani, senior vice-president at Elara Capital Ltd said.

Voot benefits from the wide distribution strength of Reliance Jio, Taurani said, whereas other over-the-top (OTT) platforms have to share user revenue with the third-party telcos they’ve partnered with, making distribution and reach a challenge for them.

Even when Disney+ Hotstar streamed IPL, the company’s ARPUs in India remained below the $1 mark per month, as a huge chunk of subscription earnings went to telcos. “In that sense, Voot is in a much better position in terms of possible ARPUs and can prove to be a very good offering if the company builds on the product and tech experience,” Taurani said.

Voot declined to comment on Mint’s queries on ramping up its general entertainment slate in the run-up to the IPL.

However, in an earlier interview, Ferzad Palia, head of Voot Select, Voot Kids and international business, Viacom18 had said the company will bank on a freemium, or a mix of advertising and subscription-driven strategies to drive growth in the Indian market, as it focuses on sports as well as its slate of international programming along with the goal to bring out one web show every month.