IBTN9 one of India's leading infotainment web portal and ScreenPremiere dot com - an online pay-per-view Video on Demand website merged into IBTN9 Networks to launch IBTN9 TV. Jackson Records Digital Entertainment LLP, the owner and sole operator of both brands has been considering the synergies between the two brands and a way wherein migration of service would create more value for the online consumers and advertisers.
Utsav Bhanja, Founder and Managing Partner of Jackson Records Digital Entertainment LLP
Video content on IBTN9 dot com was previously limited to news and events. With the migration of ScreenPremiere's services, IBTN9 TV accessible at https://ibtn9.com/tv now offers streaming video content in the entertainment category including non-fiction series, music videos, original music jukebox, documentaries, infotainment videos and short films.
IBTN9 TV released its first ever original series ‘Kalakurri Season 1' based on art and crafts in August 2018 while the merger was in progress. Projects which were previously approved as ScreenPremiere Originals are now being released as IBTN9 Originals on the web portal and Android app. IBTN9 TV is also expected to release four to five original series this fiscal year apart from short films, few of which have already entered production phase. The website is free for all and is one registration away. But in future, IBTN9 TV might also come up with Pay Per View/ TVOD plans for certain premium titles, as an inherited model from ScreenPremiere.
Speaker on the occasion, Utsav Bhanja, Founder and Managing Partner of Jackson Records Digital Entertainment LLP said, "The digital world is changing faster than ever and with the internet becoming more affordable, there has been an urgent need of building a cross-functional content structure that would serve to the new audience, which includes various age and income groups. We launched ScreenPremiere in 2016 with a dream of making way for indie films and documentaries to the world market, giving the consumer a taste of a virtual multiplex. The Indian market was soon flooded by international VOD players which disrupted the online economy and changed the way people consumed media content. There is a considerable amount of competition in the subscription market owing to which many regional players also find it hard to sustain with the model and integration with telecom services help expand their user bases. We already had IBTN9's stable readership which has always been on the growth curve and we considered how vast of a content pool it can become to be integrated with a new-media service. Brand merger is a process of shifting perceptions, so we worked for two years to evaluate the pros and cons of the merger. Finally we took a step forward to make it one platform of curated content. People want fresh content and we as a company have been working on content creation for a pretty long time now. All we did was channelize our resources to produce videos that people would like and share; another reason why we love keeping our content freely accessible. That way we reach more people and our advertisers get more impressions."
Feature films that were previously available as premium content on ScreenPremiere have however not been migrated due to copyright restrictions. IBTN9 TV has already secured around 5.3 million hits in its initial phase of launch. The company believes IBTN9 Networks which comprises of various content categories will definitely be able to boost its presence with IBTN9 TV.
About Jackson Records Digital Entertainment LLP
Jackson Records Digital Entertainment LLP, is a digital media company based in Kolkata, founded in 2011 by Utsav Bhanja. Started as a web services and digital music distribution company, Jackson Records has become one of the fastest growing agencies in the digital media sector with services ranging across digital advertising, business services and info-media services. IBTN9.com was launched in 2015, which later expanded to dedicated content categories - IBTN9 Food, IBTN9 Learning, IBTN9 Explore and IBTN9 TV. The online network portal is owned and operated by Jackson Records Digital Entertainment LLP.