Following its success with the US-based video website Hulu.com, Newscorp plans to host video content from its various channels through an online property to engage audiences in several countries.
Its Indian subsidiary, STAR India, has already launched a video site, STAR Player, available at startv.in. The group is set to unveil video websites under the STAR Player brand in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
To begin with, full episodes, divided into short duration video clips of various programmes from STAR Plus, STAR One, STAR World, STAR Pravah (Marathi general entertainment channel), Channel V and its Bengali channel, STAR Ananda, will be uploaded on STAR Player on a regular basis.
The group also has plans to upload its video archives on the website. As Gurtej Sandhu, senior vice-president, new media and IT, explains, “We will upload all the video content owned and available to us, which implies that apart from uploading the episodes broadcast on a daily basis, we will also put up our video archives on the website”.
STAR India also plans to offer the platform to other broadcasters to upload their video content on STAR Player. Sandhu reports that, “We are currently talking to three TV channels, including a news channel and a regional language TV channel.”
Although the video content on the website will be offered to the users for free, Sandhu reveals that the content will be monetised through video advertising. Sandhu was not ready to disclose the percentage of revenue the company is aiming to make through the website.
Sandhu reveals that advertisers will be offered a choice of pre-roll, post-roll, overlay and in-banner video advertising. Advertisers will be enabled to serve ads based on the context of videos. For example, if the user watches a video in which Shah Rukh Khan is present, or which shows a conversation related to the actor, then a brand that uses Khan as its brand ambassador can showcase its ad in the video.
STAR India is also using the services of Nautanki.tv to make its video content available online. Nautanki.tv is an online platform which enables video content producers to upload and host their content in short duration formats, and distribute these through 10,000 video widgets owned by the portal. STAR India offers video clips from Channel V, STAR Plus and STAR One on Nautanki.tv.