Press Releases

hoichoi steps into its 5th Year with a recorded 4X growth in Viewership & Doubles its Investment for Originals with Top Creators

Sep 24, 2021

• hoichoi reveals new Original Shows for the 5th year, targets to reach 100 Originals by the end of 2022. Along with that, there’s also many World Digital Premieres lined up.
  
• 40% of hoichoi’s Direct Subscription Revenue is still contributed by International Market.
  
• hoichoi is currently available Worldwide, hence, is on the works to introduce Digital Gift Cards this Puja across Countries like the US, UK, Canada and more.
  
• Besides Hindi, hoichoi soon to start dubbing its content in other languages like Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
  

Kolkata, India, 24th September 2021: hoichoi, the leading Bengali OTT platform globally, is all set to touch new milestones as it steps into its 5^th year of operation. Within just 4 years of its inception, hoichoi has been successful in making a mark amongst the leading OTT players in India with its high growth in subscription numbers, quality content and enhanced technical intervention. Within a year, the platform has seen a 2X growth in its overall Watch-Time and Monthly Active Streaming users and a 4X growth in Viewership of Content, not only in India but also in Bangladesh. Even the Monthly Subscription numbers in Bangladesh have doubled every month, since last year. hoichoi has seen 60 mins of average daily watch-time among subscribers, on an average each user visiting the platform thrice every day. hoichoi is also on the works for key user cohorts to identify the right content mix for Countries like the US, UK, Australia and Canada, which already contributed 40% of the overall Direct Subscription Revenue for hoichoi.

As it begins its 5th year, the Bengali OTT player has taken a big leap in strengthening its five pillars, namely, the following –

CONTENT:

hoichoi is heavily focused on delivering the best in quality and quantity to its users, revealed that it has doubled its investment on content. hoichoi announces the names of 20 of its new Original Shows for the 5th year, targets to reach 100 Originals by the end of 2022. hoichoi intends to release 30 more Originals in 2022 along with 12 World Premiere Movies of which 5 have been announced; with works delivered from Srijit Mukherji to Anjan Dutt, the upcoming content line up of hoichoi looks to add an impressive catalogue to its existing one of 80+ Original Shows. There are plans to add 50 new curated movie titles to its current 600+ movie library.

Along with that hoichoi is working in some of the biggest creators and local talent from Bangladesh to bring bigger and better Originals for the Bangladesh Market. Currently, hoichoi plans to produce at least 7-9 Originals in Bangladesh for the year 2022.

Following are the details of the first 20 Originals, being announced today.

Originals	Logline
Srikanto	After Charitraheen, here is another modern retelling of a classic tale by Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Srikanto, featuring Rishav Basu as Srikanto and Sohini Sarkar as Rajlokkhi.
Byomkesh 7	Based on the story ‘Chorabali’, the classic Byomkesh enacted by Anirban Bhattacharya, is back, this time with Arjun Chakrabarty, Ushasi Ray, Chandan Sen & others joining the cast.
Mahabharat Murders	Mahabharat Murders is about a serial killer considering himself Duryodhana reborn in the 21st century, on a hunt for the Pandavas and Draupadi.
Eken Babu 5	Eken Babu returns for its 5th Instalment with a riddle-ful adventure, revolving around a theft of an antique diamond followed by a suspicious death set in the backdrop of Shantiniketan.
Troilokkyo	India’s first recorded serial killer, that too, a woman, and not just a woman, a Bengali woman. We bring the tale of Troilokkyo, based on ‘Raar Kahini’ by Debarati Mukhopadhyay.
Mandaar	Based on Macbeth, Mandaar, is the first addition in our new category of hoichoi World Classics, where the aim is to bring forth timeless tales from around the World. Versatile acclaimed actor Anirban Bhattacharya will be marking his debut as a Director & a Creator in this series.
Rudrabinar Obhishaap	Vikram and Rupsa, etched in our hearts as Alaap and Shruti, are coming back with a new musical-adventure in Rudrabinar Obhishaap. With prominent cast members, Saurav Das and Dwitipriya Roy coming on board, this adventure is set to unfold more mystery, an unspoken legend and an ancient curse that will change everyone’s past and what they know about themselves.
Montu Pilot 2	Saurav Das, will be returning as the fan favourite Montu, in the new season of Montu Pilot 2, helmed by Debaloy Bhattacharya.
Khyapa Shohor	Anjan Dutt has marked a stupendous debut in the web world with Murder in the Hills. Post which, he is ready to deliver yet another intriguing set in the underbelly of Kolkata, revolving around a gang-war between cops.
Gora	A new detective created by Sahana Dutta. This marks the digital debut of Ritwick Chakraborty who plays the role of a detective who is defective called Gora.
Tiktiki	Marking director Dhrubo Banerjee’s venture into web series, Tiktiki is set to star two eminent actors Kaushik Ganguly & Anirban Bhattacharya challenging the viewers to choose between black or white.
Swapan Kumar Obolomboney Bottolar Goyenda	Swapan Kumar’s trend-setting crime fictions have been eminent in the world of literature, based on his novels, we bring a new detective franchise, created by Anirban Bhattacharya.
Uttaran	Adapted from ‘Bottola’, written by  Sukanto Gangopadhyay, Uttaran is about how one MMS leak changes the life of a simple married woman, drastically. Starring Madhumita Sarcar, this plot unveils the truth of the society.
Indu	From the maker of blockbuster series – Hello and Paap, here comes another family drama/thriller, starring Ishaa Saha, revolving around a grand wedding and a ‘bonedi’ household.
Boli (Bangladesh)	Sohrab and Rustom – these names evoke an emotion! Boli is an action-packed story of the above-mentioned father and son, featuring the famous duo from Taqdeer – Chanchal Chowdhury and Shohel Mondol Rana.
Karagar (Bangladesh)	A jailhouse. A cell numbered ‘501’. It has been shut for years because of a series of suicides. One morning, the jailer finds a prisoner inside who claims he has been there for 200 years. A thrilling narrative by Syed Ahmed Shawki, after the super success of his previous show, Taqdeer.
Sabrina (Bangladesh)	After delivering a series being celebrated by all, Ashfaque Nipun is bringing ‘Sabrina’, a realistic take on the oppression of women irrespective of their social strata with a spine-chilling story of two women.
Kaiser (Bangladesh)	Created by Tanim Noor, Kaiser is about a homicide detective of the same name, who is addicted to video games, and because of this unhealthy habit, he manages to raise many complications in his personal and professional space. Also, we heard he is scared of blood!
Bodh (Bangladesh)	Amitabh Reza Chowdhury’s new series revolves around a judge and the awakening of his conscience after his retirement.

This year, hoichoi has launched a Freemium section with new shows released under this segment for audiences to watch for free without any ads. Till now, hoichoi has released two shows under this section in collaboration with top jewellery brands namely Turu Love with Senco Gold & Diamonds and Subharambha with P.C. Chandra Jewellers. The shows on the Freemium section are primarily intended to cater to different brand needs and to also ensure at the same time that the content remains highly engaging with its quality not being compromised.

 
 DISTRIBUTION & PARTNERSHIPS

One of the main focuses of hoichoi still remains to drive more subscription on its platform through direct subscription and subscription bundling partners.  In India, besides its existing partnership with Jio Fibre for Broadband subscription bundling, hoichoi has now partnered with Airtel as its preferred partner for Mobility, Broadband & DTH bundling. There are other partnerships with various leading ISP players like Alliance, Wishnet, Meghbela in India and Link3 in Bangladesh for Broadband subscription bundling. Even Grameenphone, which is one of the leading Telecom operators in Bangladesh, is a partner for Mobility subscription bundling along with Sohoj for Malaysia. In 2022, hoichoi aims to have more such subscription bundling partners across various sectors like Telecom, ISPs, E-Commerce, DTH services, etc.

In addition to online payment facility through the platform, hoichoi has recently got into the retail vertical which has enabled subscription through offline payment mode to reach out to the Tier II & Tier III cities across the country. In other words, users can simply visit these local stores and purchase a hoichoi subscription by paying in cash. The mechanism is as simple as recharging for mobile talk time and data at your nearby store! Sohoj and Paynearby are some of the current retail partners of hoichoi. hoichoi is actively going out and tying up with other local retail outlets. This new initiative of driving subscription through offline payments has garnered promising results along with positive customer feedback. There are more collaborations planned, with more than 500 retail stores in both India and Bangladesh in the next 6 months for wider reach and easy accessibility for existing and potential audience.

With the motive to escalate customer acquisition level, hoichoi plans on to launch digital gift cards this Puja across many countries like US, UK, Australia, Singapore and middle East that will offer Special pricing plans to enable people to gift their loved ones a subscription to hoichoi to consume the best in Bengali entertainment.

MARKET EXPANSION

Going local is this year’s biggest goal. Having subscribers from over 150 countries, hoichoi is currently looking for ways to adapt strategies to tap the key markets. Collaborations with the biggest creators and partners have played a key role in creating content and distributing the platform among a diverse audience base. This year, hoichoi plans to deepen its presence among the large Bengali population residing in the South-Asian Countries like Malaysia and Singapore. hoichoi looks to partner with key telecom operators in the South-Asian Markets.  Even in the Middle-East, hoichoi plans on to strengthen its grip as the OTT platform plans to take a similar approach and comes together with the key telecom players in the Middle-East by the end of December, to cater to the existing Bengali diaspora in the region. hoichoi is planning to launch “sachet pricing” in both these markets.

TECH

On the technology front, several new features have been incorporated in the app during the year and hoichoi plans to launch apps rebuilt from the ground up with a new user interface.

A completely new interface of the application is being developed from scratch, which will be launched soon, to give the subscribers a new experience of using the platform. Some of the new essential features that has been added to the app includes Content Description (when someone hovers over any content image on a tray), Trailer Auto-play feature on content details page, new and improved search layout functionality, Hamburger Menu Navigation, New Signup, new streaming player and Login Page among others.

DUBBED SHOWS

The response received by hoichoi, for its Hindi dubbed content, has made the platform brainstorm ways to curate and expand their library of Hindi dubbed Originals. With the motive to break lingual barrier in terms of entertainment, hoichoi plans to dub its content in other languages as well like Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. This is a big leap taken by hoichoi to build a connect with the non-Bengali audience base of India and Worldwide.

Elated to start the 5th Year, Vishnu Mohta, Co-Founder of hoichoi, said, “Over the period of 4 years, our journey has been an enthralling and it has been possible because of the incredible response hoichoi has received from its audience. Our aim has always been to cater quality Bengali content to the people, especially Bengalis, around the globe. As we begin our journey for the 5th year, we are excited to make way for hoichoi to reach out to people in to the remote corners of the world, by establishing strategic partnerships and emphasising of offline payment methods. Our focus for the year, therefore, will be on delivering great content and paving ways to make them easily accessible to people. We are also introducing Digital Gift Cards, this Puja, which is curated to present our audiences great benefits for streaming hoichoi. With hopes of impacting more people, hoichoi, is ready to set out for another year of entertaining people in their own language and grow more.”

Mahendra Soni, Co-Founder of SVF & hoichoi added, ‘’We are overwhelmed with the response and love we have received for hoichoi, in both the regional and as well as national OTT space, in the span of past 4 years. The thing that has made it possible for hoichoi to build its diverse audience base is its relevant and dynamic content, that hoichoi has been committed in delivering for the last 4 years. As we step into the 5th year, the goal is to curate more remarkable content in collaboration with the best creators and talents of the industry. We are announcing new shows, with more in the pipeline, with stories that we hope will be able to strike a chord with our audiences. I am thankful to our entire hoichoi family for their relentless work and efficiency throughout for turning this into a reality.”
 

Watch the virtual event here: bit.ly/hoichoiSeason5

About hoichoi:

hoichoi is the leading Bengali Entertainment Platform with over 2,000+ hours of Movies, exclusive Original Series, Films, Shorts, an Audio-Streaming section and more. hoichoi aims to take the best of Bengali content globally and connect the 250+ million Bengalis residing worldwide to their roots.

The OTT Player has many features, to name a few, Offline Download, AD free Seamless Viewing Experience, unlimited HD Video Streaming, Bilingual Interface (English & Bengali), Multi-Device Capability, Progressive Web App, Parental Control, Hindi-Dubbed Originals and English Subtitles.

Users can enjoy their favourite Bengali Content on the hoichoi App by downloading it from the Play Store and the Apple App Store, to watch on their Mobile Phones, or on the Desktop/Laptop through www.hoichoi.tv or on Television through Amazon Firestick, Android TV, Apple TV, Mi LED TV, LG SMART TV, Samsung TV and Roku.

Founded in 2017, hoichoi is the maiden venture of SVF under its new media section, and is headed by Co-Founder Vishnu Mohta who is also the Executive Director of SVF.