Over-The-Top or OTT platforms are gradually taking place in the heart of cosmopolitans beyond the influence of satellite and cable TV in the advancement of technology. OTT basically provides media services to the viewers through the internet. This vibe of globalization has already spread among the Bengali-speaking people. On September 20, 2018, Hoichoi launched in India as the world's first Bengali OTT platform. Hoichoi delivers the latest Bengali movies, web series, and music videos. Let’s get to know about this video streaming site.

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OTT platform Hoichoi: A new horizon of Bengali entertainment

With the advent of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu, Bengalis have become quite accustomed to new terminologies of entertainment. By virtue of technology, and modern devices like next-generation TVs, laptops, and smartphones, access to entertainment has reached the palm of the viewers. By nature, people enjoy watching media in a familiar language. Sri Venkatesh Films Pvt. Ltd. (SVF), the largest entertainment distribution and production company in eastern India, discovered this possibility in 2016. Meanwhile, the transition from 3G to 4G was in full swing.

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According to Our World in Data, the number of Internet users in South-Asia in 2017 was 468 million, which is 312.84 million more than that of five years ago. So, with the simultaneous advancement of 4G's easy availability, SVF intended to cross the boundaries of social media.

Thus, the online video streaming service - Hoichoi appears in the world of OTT platforms. It won’t be overwhelming to say that SVF presents HoiChoi as an alternative to Netflix to the Bengali community. Some people also call it Bengali Netflix.

The people behind the online streaming service Hoichoi

The think tanks of Hoichoi are Srikant Mohta, Mahendra Soni, and Vishnu Mohta. Currently, Vishnu Mohta is acting as the chairperson. These three visionary directors of SVF plan and manage the airing of versatile Bangla contents through Hoichoi.

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While Hoichoi started its journey, SVF had already got a reputation as a high-profile production company. SVF has been distributing Hollywood and Bollywood films in eastern India for almost two decades. From the Kolkata headquarters in West Bengal, Hoichoi began working with a mission to ensure 360-degree entertainment for 250 million Bengalis worldwide.

Viewlift has been working with Hoichoi as a partner since October 2016. Besides overseeing the different sectors of entertainment, like distribution, media costs, and monetization; Viewlift is involved with the development, and operation of the official website and app of Hoichoi.

Rediffusion Y&R is in charge of the creative work associated with the advertising campaign and visuals of Hoichoi's content. Even the name Hoichoi is given by this creative agency.

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Hoichoi Video Streaming: Entering the Future of Bangla Entertainment

By virtue of the innovative practice of entertainment, the world is now living within what was once a possibility. Like Netflix, Hoichoi is gaining traction on mobile phones, tablets, Amazon Fire TVs, Apple TVs, desktops, laptops, Roku TVs, and Chromecast-enabled devices.

On Hoichoi, Customers can enjoy 500+ Bangla movies, exclusive original shows, short films, music videos as well as new content every month. This Bengali OTT platform is staying up-to-date with a huge amount of content at a low cost. Viewers can watch their favorite media while sitting at home or roaming outdoors. 

All in all, gone are the days when the audience used to rely on the mercy of the TV channels to watch entertaining programs broadcasted on the basis of weekly or monthly schedules. On the other hand, the video streaming site Hoichoi is getting customers accustomed to the ‘Search and Enjoy’ concept. Besides, customers have been flocking to the OTT platform for a long time due to attractive opportunities like freemium, and offline download.

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The range of OTT's service around the world

The online streaming platform Hoichoi has been able to reach a total of 30 million subscribers since its launch. Interestingly, about 40 percent of these clients belong to non-urban areas where they usually pay the subscription fees in direct cash. To facilitate their subscription, Hoichoi launched the top-up card at the end of 2016 following the telecom company's scratch card model. Hoichoi heralds the offline payment process to the OTT industry.

About 40 percent of the direct revenue of Hoichoi comes from international customers. The video streaming service has subscribers in more than 100 countries, including Japan, Iceland, Sweden, and Argentina. About 30 percent of the total subscription revenue comes from Canada, the USA, Australia, and the UK.

Bangladeshi customers have been getting the service of Hoichoi since March 2019. Within the Corona epidemic, the platform's revenue increased dramatically. On the 3rd anniversary of 2020, the number of subscribers of Hoichoi reached 13 million.

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Upcoming shows in Hoichoi

The coming soon Indian contents include Tiktiki of Dhrubo Banerjee, "Gora" and "Indu" Sayantan Ghoshal, "Mahabharat Murders" of Soumik Haldar, "Srikant" of Sunny Ghosh Roy, "Mandar" and "Battala's Detective" of Anirban Bhattacharya, "Khepa Shohor" of Anjan Dutt, "Uttaran" and "Rudraveena's Curse" of Joydwip Mukherjee.

The upcoming list of web series including "Byomkesh: Season 6" of Soumik Haldar, "Montu Pilot: Season 2" of Debalaya Bhattacharya, and "Aken Babu: Season 5" of Anirban Mallick are bringing new versions of the old show.

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In addition to these, Hoichoi brings "Troilokko" centering on the breathtaking story of serial killing and Srijit Mukherjee's first work with Feluda.

Among the Hoichoi originals in the Bangladesh category, the upcoming contents include "Bodh" by Amitabh Reza Chowdhury, "Karagar" by Syed Ahmed Shawki, "Bali" by Shankha Dasgupta, "Kaiser" by Tanim Noor, and "Sabrina" by Ashfaq Nipun.

Moreover, Hoichoi has decided to add 100+ originals to the new slate for the new year. By the end of 2022, Hoichoi aims to include about 50 new films in their library enriched with 600 films.

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Successors of the digital platform Hoichoi

Addatimes and Zee-5 have gained quite a bit of popularity following the over-the-top streaming platform Hoichoi. Bioscope, Banglaflix, Banga, CineSpot, Binje, Cinematic, I-Theater have already started their journey in Bangladesh. The new video streaming platform Chorki directed by Redwan Rony was launched on July 12, 2021.

Wrap up

From Southeast Asia to other parts of the world, the Hoichoi OTT platform based on Bengali content is ensuring its content quality. With more than 2000 hours of content including selected web series, originals, shorts, song streaming, Bangla movies, Hoichoi have become one of the most favorite online media to the Bengalis around the world. 

The trend of entertaining content in the Bengali language is also changing keeping pace with the contents of the famous online streaming sites. In this wind of change, Hoichoi uplifts the possibility of Bengali content to compete with foreign language dramas and films.

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