Discovery Communications India (DCIN) announced today that it is planning to disrupt the digital space with the launch of bespoke direct-to-consumer, social and mobile-firstchannels in early 2018. The new mobile-first channels will focus on four core-interest areas – ‘Military’, ‘Girlist’, ‘Automotive’ and ‘Food’. The first two channels to launch will be VEER by Discoveryand RISE by TLC in Q1 2018. These will be followed by specialist automotive and food focused mobile-first channels later in the year.
With an unrivalled content library across these areas, DCIN is uniquely positioned to launch and further develop these special-interest verticals across various social and mobile platformswhile also nurturing and nourishing these audience communities with meaningful content. The initiative leverages on the unprecedented growth of passionate online communities that is driving a sizeable 15% of digital video consumption in India in the lifestyle/ factual genre*.
DCIN has identified a big market opportunity in this space in India which has no major at scale digital/mobile-first channels and all OTT services mostly offer long-form linear content on digital even though the consumption trends indicate that 76%** of all online videos watched are short-form (<less 10 minutes long). The mobile first channels from DCIN will have bespoke digital-first,mid-form and short-form content. In the first year itself, VEER by Discovery and RISE by TLC will offer consumers 100+ hours of original content in India.
DCIN has partnered with YouTube, Reliance Jio and Vodafone Play to optimize the launch of these channels and maximize its reach across social and mobile platforms.
Talking about the initiative, Karan Bajaj, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Discovery Communications India, said, “We are thrilled to takeDiscovery digital in India and accelerate engagement with the growing base of young consumers who are increasingly snacking short form content. These passionate communities form an integral part of the consumption pattern across digital media and we see this trend accentuating further in future. Our digital channels will help us ramp up reach across linear and digital platforms by almost 3 times making it an irresistible proposition for the advertisers who will now have the option to reach out to premium consumers across our linear network and presence across the most popular social and mobile platforms.”
Zulfia Waris, Vice-President, Premium & Digital Networks, Discovery Communications India, said, “The clutter breaking digital-first content proposition of VEER by Discoveryand Rise by TLC is designed to help us achieve our ambition of being the #1 mobile content brand in the country. These will be independent digital channelsand not catch-up TV – from the best in military to girl power to automobiles and world food, our aim is to create and nurture passionate interest-based communities with edgy world-class content that resonates.”
