Nautanki.tv goes global with partnership with ITN UK

News and multimedia companies ITN UK has entered into an agreement to have their content on Nautanki.tv, making it the first global broadcaster to partner with the platform. The channel is live on the network since March 16, 2009.

It all began in October 2008, when Sunil R Nair, CEO, Nautanki.tv met Nicholas Wheeler, MD, ITN ON (ITN’s multimedia division for online and mobile platforms) at MIPCOM in Cannes. Wheeler found the core idea behind Nautanki.tv – of distribution through widgetisation – an interesting concept, as opposed to a portal or destination based model to generate viewership.

Almost 8 per cent of the Nautanki.tv views come from the UK and Wheeler was keen to tap the market of the Indian Diaspora in the UK. The key factor for ITN was the vastness and spectrum of viewership of the Nautanki.tv network. ITN will go live with seven shows on Nautanki.tv – News Bulletins, Gamerzine TV, T3 Gadget show, Game on, This is Genius and English Premier League stories, among others. ITN plans to experiment in the future with their niche programming using Nautanki.tv as the distribution platform.

It may be recalled that Nautanki.tv had recently partnered with Viacom18 for their MTV India and Colors channels and with Broadcast Initiative for Mi Marathi and Live India news channel. With these tie-ups, most of the major television broadcasters in India are now part of the Nautanki.tv platform.

Nautanki.tv is touted as the world’s largest online entertainment platform with 21 channels on board, ranging from independent channels to some of the biggest and most successful television channels across the world, including Fashion TV, MTV, Star Plus, Times Now and Channel [v], among others.

Hungama has a majority stake in the company through a strategic investment into the Nautanki.tv Network.