hoichoi steps into its sixth year

September 2022 marks the completion of 5 illustrious years of hoichoi. As it steps into its 6th year, it is almost mandatory to take a look at how significant this year has been. Firstly, this year marked hoichoi’s creation of 100 originals, making it the only platform to create 100+ originals in a single language. The arrival of Asia’s Best Crime Detector - Feluda, by national award-winning creator Srijit Mukherji, as well as creators like Dhrubo Banerjee was also a momentous event for hoichoi as well as Bengalis all across the globe. Not only that, the platform also saw a 50% growth in direct subscriptions with a 20% increase in month-on-month watch time in the post lockdown period.

As hoichoi completes 5 years of being the leading vernacular OTT globally, it has taken some gargantuan leaps and also chalked out an intensive roadmap in three pivotal departments, namely:

CONTENT

As it steps into its 6th year, hoichoi announces 25 (4 from Bangladesh and 21 from India) new shows with top creators and across genres. While the reign of the old, tried and tested genres continues, new experimental genres have also been added to the mix, to cater to audiences across all strata. It’s no surprise that the love for family dramas and detective thrillers are a unanimous winner when it comes to our viewers’ preferences, but hoichoi also wants to bring to its audiences, content that falls outside that bracket and give audiences a taste of the true potential that Bengali content holds. hoichoi continues to make a statement with more female forward narratives that don't just consist of quality storytelling, but also use the platform to give a necessary message to the masses.

Apart from that, the platform also continues to bring forth more A-Lister creators on board to create quality content for our audiences. While creators like Srijit Mukherji, Dhrubo Banerjee, Anirban Bhattacharya, Sahana Dutta, Syed Ahmed Shawki, Ashfaque Nipun and others continue their journey with hoichoi, the platform also brings on board Raj Chakraborty and Arindam Sil to start their OTT journey with hoichoi! Recurring seasons of fan favourites are a must. The shows that viewers’ have loved and longed for to return, make their comeback in this upcoming year. So, we can safely ask our audiences to fasten their seatbelts, as the upcoming year is going to be one entertaining ride! Find the upcoming list of content and their details at the end of the release.

BUSINESS

hoichoi as a brand has always been driven by the motive to provide a well-rounded entertainment experience to its viewers, from bringing in quality content to technological advancements and an intensive customer support system. It is this consumer centric approach and a knack for bringing quality content that has reflected in the form of substantial growth and stellar numbers. Over the past year, hoichoi has seen a 50% growth in direct subscriptions with a 20% month on month increase in watch time, in the post lockdown period. There has been a 40% rise in monthly active users and a 40% rise in international yearly subscriber base. Along with this, hoichoi continues to have one of the highest refresh rates in India for a single language with close to 5-7 titles which includes

Original shows, World Premiere Movies and Hindi Dubbed Originals releasing every month. Besides experiencing the aforementioned growth, hoichoi, is now a PnL profitable business as of August 2022. Last month had also seen the highest direct subscription revenue for the platform across all three of its user base regions, namely - India, Bangladesh and International markets, all of which contribute to over a 100% increase in growth. Moving forward, hoichoi not only aims to expand its user base via direct subscriptions but also make the platform more accessible to its audiences by continuing to bundle with various broadband and e-commerce partners. Existing partnerships include distribution through partners like Amazon Prime Video channel, alongside being bundled with offerings from several partners. These include - Airtel Xstream (through mobility, broadband and DTH), JioFiber (through broadband), Grameen phone, Robi and Banglalink (through mobility), TataPlay and Dish TV network, along with various ISPs, ecommerce and other OTT aggregators.

TECHNOLOGY

On the technology front, hoichoi has launched its revamped android UI to ensure a smoother and more convenient user experience. The User Interface revamp uses MVI (Model View Intent) design pattern with clean architecture alongside Jetpack compose to make the user experience significantly better. It also includes Media3 ExoPlayer to facilitate easier playing and downloading of contents. The entire code of the android UI has also been re-written in Kotlin programming language to ensure best results, when it comes to providing the highest quality watching experience to its audiences. hoichoi is also available on Samsung TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Firestick, Roku, MiLED TV, LG Smart TV and One Plus TV, along with enhanced Dolby Atmos surround sound for the best viewing experience; which goes on to add to the user centric functioning of the brand. When it comes to growth, hoichoi believes in taking a 360-degree approach, where it expands and strives for betterment on all fronts.

Reminiscing about the journey of hoichoi over the past 5 years, Vishnu Mohta , Co-Founder of hoichoi said, “It’s been an extremely enriching and monumental 5 years. The love we have received from our audiences has been massive and we are extremely grateful for it. hoichoi has always aimed to provide high quality entertainment to Bengalis across the globe and have an approach that makes our customers the crux of our journey. From bringing in top creators, ensuring one World Premiere movie a month, to developing strategic partnerships for accessibility, to the current revamped UI/UX with more new features, everything aims at making our customer’s experience significantly better. We as a platform believe in constant growth and betterment, which has led us to increase our user base by a substantial margin. While our monthly active users have increased by 40%, our international user base has also risen by 30%. Not only do these numbers make us ecstatic, but also motivate us to do even better, as we step into our sixth year”.

Adding to this, Soumya Mukherjee, COO, hoichoi said, “The past 5 years have been nothing short of an adventure. We had begun as the first vernacular OTT platform in India with the intention to entertain Bengalis all across the globe in their native language. Over the years we can proudly say that we have managed to do that, by creating over 100 shows in Bengali with top creators from the country and having a bank of over 650 films for users across the globe to enjoy. Making us the only OTT Platform to have this big of a content library in a single language. As we step into our 6th year, our vision is similar but bigger. Making our customers the focus of our plans as always, we intend to continue to bring in top creators from across the country to create high quality content. We are also introducing 24/7 live customer support and overall ensuring the customer journey across our platforms is enriched. Apart from that, we want to not only entertain Bengalis but Indians all across the globe, in their native language, moving forward. Key strategic partnerships across mobility, broadband, DTH and other forms of distribution to increase accessibility not only in India but in countries like Bangladesh, Middle East and South East Asia, remains one of our primary focuses. hoichoi as a brand intends to continue expanding on all fronts and ensure that despite being a vernacular OTT, our global appeal not only continues but also keeps growing.”

Get to know the hoichoi Content slate for sixth year.