Bharti Airtel on Tuesday said that it proposes to sync its music and video apps with its direct-to-home (DTH) offering, so that the content can be watched through television as well.
“We will eventually get there (streaming on television through DTH). We have only had Wynk for the last 4-5 quarters, so I don’t think this is a big issue. Technology-wise, any model will work,” Sameer Batra, CEO, Content and Apps, Airtel, told BusinessLine.
However, there are no plans for a ‘Live TV’, he said, adding that the company does not have any rights for it.
Wynk Tube launched
After the success of its over the top (OTT) music streaming app Wynk Music, Bharti Airtel on Tuesday launched its new music streaming app Wynk Tube, which has a collection of 40-lakh songs and related videos.
The company is offering a free trial for the first 30 days and then charge Rs 99 from non Airtel customers. For Airtel subscribers, it will remain free. The app will be available to only Android devices right now, and the company would think of iOS devices later. With this Airtel has further expanded its fast growing content portfolio, especially keeping in mind the needs of the next 200 million smartphone users, the company said.
The app, which has been built for India by Airtel’s in-house teams, aims to simplify the digital entertainment experience for hundreds of millions of smartphone users, particularly in Tier-II and III towns and villages, it said. “Wynk Tube has been built for India 2.0, keeping in mind the digital entertainment needs of hundreds of millions smartphone users in non-metros and small towns. An integrated audio-video music experience delivered in a simple yet intuitive vernacular interface makes Wynk Tube a unique and powerful proposition”, Sameer Batra, Chief Executive Officer – Content and Apps, Bharti Airtel said.
Wynk Tube, which is an extension of Wynk Music, allows users to stream audio and video of popular tracks within the same interface. Users can instantly switch between audio and video mode of their favourite tracks with a single touch.
“Wynk Music gave shape to our journey to the first 100 million users and we believe Wynk Tube will accelerate our journey to the next 100 million users. Regional content and personalisation through artificial intelligence, big data will continue to be a big agenda for us and we hope to build Wynk Tube into one of the most popular music platforms in India with even the possibility of user generated content as a differentiator,” Batra said.
Wynk Tube has been built as a light app (only 5MB) that will operate seamlessly on even basic smartphones, including Android Go variants. The app will be available to users in 12 Indian regional languages including Kannada, Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Bhojpuri, besides English and Hindi, the company added.