IN10 Media Network diversifies and expands

In the broadcast vertical, IN10 Media Network has five channels in different genres: EPIC, launched in 2014, is India's only infotainment platform offering India-centric premium content in the native Hindi-language; ShowBox, launched in 2019, is a 24-hour youth music channel which provides platform to independent music creators; Filamchi, launched in 2020, the channel hosts an extensive library of popular and blockbuster Bhojpuri films targeted towards the Bhojpuri speaking markets; Gubbare, launched in 2020, the network ventured into the kids’ linear TV genre on Children’s Day with a never-seen-before line-up of global animated series and movies in India; and brand new, Ishara, launched in 2021 as the latest offering: it is a Hindi General Entertainment Channel, that offers a wide variety of shows covering a gamut of genres from family drama to love story, mythology to women-centric, and more.

In the digital space, the network has two OTT platforms: DocuBay, launched in 2019, caters to a niche audience with global documentaries from 170 countries and EPIC ON, launched in 2014 and revamped in 2020, showcases path-breaking shows, podcasts, games, movies from India.
Juggernaut Productions is the production arm specializing in series, and telenovelas. 

'At Ishara, we have positioned the channel with the tagline Zindagi ka Nazara, which talks about the celebration of life through storytelling and characters in day-to-day life. The differentiator for Ishara, in the GEC pay-TV market, is that it is a 2.0 version of shows on Indian television i.e. while the stories are fabricated with Indian, customs, beliefs, values, and system, they have a progressive arc which is relatable to today’s linear TV audience. For instance, the prime TG of general entertainment channels, a homemaker, today shops online and is familiar with digital banking. It has progressed and hence, the content she consumes needs to as well', described Darbar to Prensario.

And she added: 'Our programming line-up offers a mythological show Paapnaashini Ganga; crime-thriller Faraar Kab Tak; romantic-thriller Agni-Vayu; and two social dramas Humkadam, and Janani. Each of them is helmed by respected content creators, feature some of the most recognizable faces on Indian television, and bring a new perspective to storytelling. Ishara caters to the GEC TV audiences in the Hindi-speaking markets, and to reach the vast landscape, we are available on all the major DTH and cable operators in the country'.

About the content & programming strategy of the group, the executive remarked: 'The IN10 Media Network, since its inception, is invested in creating differentiated content. Each of our business verticals caters to different genres like factual, kids, general entertainment, movies. From mass to niche, our content and programming strategy has been a mix of acquired and original content comprising of regional movies, podcasts, global documentaries, telenovelas, animated series, and infotainment for varied audience sets. Content cannot be differentiated based on being an acquired or original property as the audience is hungry for a compelling piece of content that hooks them to their seat. So, at IN10 Media Network, we ensure that our content buckets are filled with the right ingredients to meet the needs of the viewers'. 

International roll out and expansion of the group networks has been a key strategy of IN10 Media. Darbar exemplified with the OTT DocuBay, which is already available in 170 countries in the world with content offerings from 150 countries across the globe. 'In 2021, our focus will be on positioning Ishara as one of the established players in the GEC pay-TV market.  As for the coming years, we are looking at our all linear TV channels having international feeds, spread DocuBay’s footprint globally as well as look at international collaborations for our production arm, Juggernaut. In the future, we plan to further diversify each of our business verticals – broadcast, digital, and production – into subsets of each', the executive concludes.