ALTBalaji and PayPoint India Join Hands for Deeper OTT Penetration

MUMBAI:
Intending to deepen existing market presence and penetrate new markets, ALTBalaji, one of the country’s leading homegrown OTT platforms and PayPoint India, has entered into a strategic partnership. This initiative is primarily for the rural and semi-rural markets with a set of viewers who require digital-assistance and offline subscription payment options.

ALTBalaji is known for playing a vital role in the massification of content as it reaches out to viewers spread across Bharat. With PayPoint’s 45,000 plus tech-enabled retailers across India wherein more than 80 percent of its customers are spread across in rural and semi-rural markets, the partnership helps ATLBalaji go deeper in these markets by making content more accessible. For ALTBalaji fans, the PayPoint offline stores provide seamless assistance for activation as well, along with paying for subscription and renewals in cash and access the program at the convenience of their homes. With this, the subscribers of ALTBalaji will get access to a content library of 60+ Indian originals created for the masses.

In the current pandemic, ALTBalaji, which is an alternative for mainstream entertainment, is witnessing a strong uptake of digital subscriptions with an average of 17,000 subscriptions added per day post lockdown vs an average of 10,600 in March 2020 pre lockdown, a growth of 60%. PayPoint, a leading offline-to-online (O2O) company operating Pan India for the last 10 years, will provide access to its retail outlets to collect cash on behalf of ALTBalaji and allow the consumers to watch the fresh, original, and engaging contents on the over-the-top (OTT) platform.

Nachiket Pantvaidya, CEO, ALTBalaji and Group COO, Balaji Telefilms said, “Our increased focus towards creating desi originals for our Bharat audience has led to the massification of content. It has resulted in the rise in viewership and time spent on the platform from these regions. Hence, our association with Pay Point is a strategic step in the right direction that aligns us perfectly to establish a strong foothold in these rural and semi-rural markets. We’re glad to have curated yet another touchpoint that enhances the user experience and makes transactions easier. We believe that doing so shall see us foster the bond that we share with our customers by instilling the feeling of trust amongst them.”

Ketan Doshi, Managing Director of PayPoint India, said, “For ALTBalaji like alternatives to mass entertainment, there is a huge fan following in the rural districts of India. However, for lower digital-savvy fans activating the service, and doing an offline recharge is a hindrance. This partnership will be a boon for the population to do an instant activation and renewal recharge.”

“The offline recharge for such video-on-demand OTT service is the first of this kind and one such industry initiative. The association will help ALTBalaji achieve higher subscriber’s base, while PayPoint will be adding one of its kind product to the kitty of services that it is providing to the customers across the length and breadth of India,” Ketan added.

The association will enable ALTBalaji to take the OTT space to the masses and aggressively increase its viewership by reaching every corner of the country. Available across multiple interfaces ranging from desktops, laptops, tablets, smart-phones to internet-ready television, the subscription-based video on demand (SVOD) service marries state-of-the-art technology with gripping storytelling.

With a vast library of 60+ originals across genres that cater to all kinds of audiences, the shows at ALTBalaji are a mix of thriller, drama, romance, youth drama, horror, comedy amongst others. Each show present on the platform or in the pipeline has been created keeping in mind the audience’s interest across demographic and sociographic segments. ALTBalaji has built a legacy of creating iconic shows like ’Apharan,’ ‘Mentalhood’, ‘Code M’, ‘Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain’, ‘Karle Tu Bhi Mohabbat’, ‘M-O-M: Mission Over Mars’, ‘Coldd Lassi Aur Chicken Masala’, ‘The Verdict – State v/s Nanavati’, ‘Broken…But Beautiful’, ‘Ragini MMS Returns’, “Test Case”, “Bose” among others which have been lauded by the audience.

PayPoint is a trusted partner for Last-Mile Delivery of Fast-Moving Consumer Services. It offers more than 100 services like bill payment, recharges, DTH, Travel booking, ATM withdrawals, Wallets, and many more. Technology-enabled Retailers brings benefit to the end customers in terms of accessibility, convenience in the neighborhood.