Fourth Screen

From one page newspapers and theatre to… silent movies to… television to… cable to… internet content on ones fingertips the media has gone through a rapid evolution. We talk about the shrinking global village but the true potential of media and its reach is yet to be unleashed. We have barely scratched the surface of Fourth screen – The Mobile (for the uninitiated the first three screens are Silver screen, TV screen and Computer screen), it is perhaps the most ubiquitous of screens in our lives today.

Going by the mobile penetration level India is perfectly poised to leapfrog the internet revolution to land directly into the mobile broadband revolution. It has already begun with the fast changes on all fronts of digital media including improvement in handset features, network bandwidth and quality & variety of content. Mobile has fast evolved from just being a device to talk to a centerpiece of our lives. Users are now looking for varieties of content delivered on the screen which is always there with them.

Traditionally, VAS business in the country has been driven by the ABC genres which are Astrology, Bollywood and Cricket. The first wave of applications was focused on ABC since the consumers were exploring mobile as a medium and were getting used to it. In the first wave of mobile VAS, service providers could get away with sending the same content to the large and varied Indian population e.g. Bollywood content to every user whether he is in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat or Bihar or Delhi.

Demand patterns in India are however changing and we are already seeing a silent shift. With the users becoming savvier and more comfortable in accessing content on the mobile, they have started looking for content more specific to their taste and their needs. Further, with the addition of millions of customers from the semi-urban and rural areas, demand for differentiated, long tail content is growing. And a lot of this demand will be on Voice and not an SMS or WAP as has been the traditional thought process. The majority of the Indian mobile consumers who are not English literate are much more comfortable to use voice-based content in their local language.

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One97 and Zee News bring news on mobile phones

The Fourth screen is here to stay and how!  Going by the mobile penetration levels in our country we have barely scratched the tip of the content iceberg. As the consumers comfort with the fourth screen increases so does their search for better and relevant content. So the Mobile VAS industry in the country which started off big with the ABC genre ( Astrology, Bollywood and Cricket) is now looking at a variety of niched and local content. This has led to fast changes on all fronts.

One97 is among the pioneers in the country in providing niche, localized and regional content ( in 28 languages).  Adding to this we are happy to announce our partnership with Zee News and Prabhat Kabar.

With our exclusive partnership with Zee News, a leading Hindi news channel, we can now provide news update to viewers of Zee News on their mobile. Services like video news streaming and citizen journalism are also in the pipeline. Currently, we are providing latest news alerts on genres like general news, sports, business and astrology to all the subscribers. 

 For Prabhat Khabar, we have developed a highly flexible and robust platform for the users to access daily alerts of local news and entertainment in Bihar and Jharkhand. This is a unique partnership between a VAS player and a print media publication in that One97 will provide Prabhat Khabar a platform to reach its readers in an interactive mode. The content is highly flexible and can be enhanced from time to time depending upon the need of the customer

 

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