Type of business | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Type of site | OTT platform |
Available in |
|
Dissolved | 9 August 2023 |
Successor(s) | JioCinema |
Headquarters | Mumbai, Maharashtra, India |
Area served | India United Kingdom (Virgin Media only) United States (Sling TV only) |
Owner | Viacom18 |
Industry | |
Products | |
Services |
|
Parent | Paramount Global |
Registration | Optional |
Launched | 29 March 2016 |
Current status | Discontinued |
Voot was an Indian over-the-top media service (OTT) owned by Viacom18. First launched in March 2016, it offered content from Viacom18's local brands, as well as original series. It initially launched as an advertising-supported service, before introducing a subscription tier in 2020 under the Voot Select banner.
Launched in March 2016, Voot initially operated as an advertising-supported service. [1]
In February 2020, Voot introduced a paid subscription service known as Voot Select, offering exclusive original series, and early access to selected programmes before their television premiere. [2]
In April 2022, Reliance Industries and Paramount Global announced additional financial backing from Uday Shankar and James Murdoch's Bodhi Tree Systems to expand their streaming business. This would include Reliance's competing JioCinema service being brought under Viacom18. [3] [4] The agreement was approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in September 2022. [5]
The two services initially co-existed, but Voot began to wind down and migrate its content to JioCinema in August 2023, beginning with sports rights such as the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and upcoming rights to the Indian Premier League. [6] New series of Voot originals began premiering on JioCinema in June 2023. [7] [8]
In August 2023, Voot was shut down in favour of JioCinema.
Voot had content from Colors TV, MTV, Nickelodeon, and other Viacom18-owned television channels. It also hosted Bollywood films for streaming. [9] It had produced several 'Voot Originals' shows for streaming as well. In the children's segment, it worked on shows in Malayalam. [10]
In March 2021, it was announced that Voot Select would add original programming from U.S. parent company Paramount Global's upcoming global streaming service Paramount+, as well as selected CBS and Showtime original series. [11]
Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Its businesses include energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, entertainment, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Reliance is the largest public company in India by market capitalisation and revenue, and the 100th largest company worldwide. It is India's largest private tax payer and largest exporter, accounting for 7% of India's total merchandise exports. The company has relatively little free cash flow and high corporate debt.
Network18 Media & Investments Limited, is an Indian media conglomerate, based in Mumbai. It is owned by Reliance Industries. Rahul Joshi is the managing director, chief executive officer and group editor-in-chief of Network18, and Adil Zainulbhai is the chairman of its board of directors.
JioSaavn is an Indian music streaming service and a digital distributor of Hindi, Marathi, English, Malayalam, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Chhattisgarhi and other regional languages of India. Since it was founded in 2007 as Saavn, the company has acquired rights to over 80 million music tracks in 16 languages. JioSaavn is a freemium service; basic features are free with advertisements or limitations, while additional features, such as improved streaming quality and music downloads for offline listening, are offered via paid subscriptions.
Viacom18 Media Private Limited is an Indian media company based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Founded in 2007 by the MTV Networks Europe division, it later became a joint venture between TV18 and Viacom in 2014, with TV18 becoming the majority shareholder in the company in January 2018 and Bodhi Tree Systems currently owning minority stakes. The company owns and operates various channels, as well as content production studios in India.
Viacom18 Studios is an Indian film distribution and production company. It is a subsidiary of Viacom18 based in Mumbai and it is one of the first studio model based motion picture & content production business in India, with an operation that involves acquisition, production, syndication, marketing and worldwide distribution of full-length feature films as well as digital only films, web series, short films.
Colors Bangla is an Indian general entertainment pay television channel broadcasting in Bengali language. It was launched in 2000 as ETV Bangla, owned by the Hyderabad-based ETV Network. It was later sold to TV18 and was rebranded under the Colors moniker.
TheWalt Disney Company India, also known as Disney India, is the Indian subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
Disney Star is an Indian media conglomerate owned by Disney India, which is the Indian regional subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, Disney Star runs more than 70 television channels in eight languages, reaching out to 9 out of 10 cable and satellite television homes in India. The network reaches approximately 790 million viewers a month across India and more than 100 countries. Disney Star generates more than 30,000 hours of content every year. Disney Star is the largest television and entertainment network in India.
Nickelodeon is an Indian children's pay television channel based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is the Indian equivalent ofthe original American channel and is owned by Viacom18, a joint venture between Paramount Global and TV18. Despite using the "Nickelodeon" branding, it does not air any content from the original channel in recent times as part of a localisation strategy; instead the original Nickelodeon content is only broadcast on the Nickelodeon HD+ channel. As of October 2020, Nickelodeon is the most watched children's channel in India.
Disney+ Hotstar is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Reliance Industries and Disney India, featuring domestic Indian film, television and sports content for India itself and its worldwide diaspora. It also includes imported content from and serves Southeast Asia as well.
Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures, CBS Studios, Paramount Media Networks, and Paramount Pictures, while also including original series and films, live streaming sports coverage, and in the United States, live streaming of local CBS broadcast stations.
Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited is an Indian telecommunications company and a subsidiary of Jio Platforms, headquartered in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. It operates a national LTE network with coverage across all 22 telecom circles. Jio offers 5G, 4G and 4G+ services all over India. Its 6G service is in the works.
Jio TV is an Indian streaming television service owned by Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Jio TV offers about 1000 live channels with 7 days of catch up content, as per the website.
Star Sports Network is a group of Indian pay television sports channels owned by Disney Star, a subsidiary of Disney India, the channel currently holds rights of flagship tournaments like Indian Premier League, ICC Events, Premier League, ONE Championship, Wimbledon etc.
There are currently about 57 providers of over-the-top media services (OTT) in India, which distribute streaming media or video on demand over the Internet.
Jio Platforms Limited is an Indian multinational technology company, headquartered in Mumbai. It is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Established in 2019, it acts as a holding company for India's largest mobile network operator, Jio, and other digital businesses of Reliance.
JioCinema is an Indian subscription based video-on-demand and over-the-top media streaming service owned by Digital18 a subsidiary of Viacom18, a joint venture of Reliance Industries and Paramount Global. It offers free advertising- and subscription-based video on demand and live streaming content. The service was initially launched on 4 May 2016 alongside the public launch of the Jio mobile carrier.
Bigg Boss OTT is a spin-off Indian Hindi-language reality digital series of the show Bigg Boss which was streamed on Voot for the first season and on JioCinema for the second season and JioCinema Premium for the third season. The digital edition has been hosted by Karan Johar and Salman Khan for the first and second seasons respectively while Anil Kapoor is the current host for the third season. The show premiered its first season on 8 August 2021.
Jyoti Deshpande is an Indian businesswoman and film producer who is the former CEO of Viacom 18. She was formerly the Group CEO and managing director of Eros International. Jyoti is also the former co-chair of the Media & Entertainment Committee, FICCI.