Top 10 Hindi web series released during lockdown

As are stuck at home during the lockdown phase, streaming platforms do their best to entertain the literally captive audience. Here are the top 10 Hindi web series that released during the period.

• Pataal Lok [Amazon Prime]
• Special Ops [Hotstar]
• Panchayat [Amazon prime]
• The Raikar Case [Voot]
• Stage of Siege 26/11 [Zee5]
• Hundred [Hotstar]
• Illegal [Voot]
• Four More Shots Please Season 2  [Amazon prime]
• Betaal [Netflix]
• Hasmukh [Netflix]

Netflix to partner with Viacom for creating local content?

With the nationwide lock down stepping into India, the percentage of people grasping online video content has skyrocketed. The country is already known to be a booming market for OTT platforms, with everyday different set of such platforms either merging with each other, or being bought by a bigger conglomerate. The Covid-19 pandemic may have slowed and hampered businesses of many sectors but OTT platform sector has seen a good boost in people around the globe consuming their content.

Netflix is looking forward to expand its offerings in the Indian video content section. It is thus, in talks with partnering with Network18 affiliates that include its joint venture with ViacomCBS, Viacom18. In 2019, its digital unit Tipping Point partnered with Netflix for three Hindi shows, but the present discussions are about a bigger tie-up. This can be understood as a bigger version of the 2019 deal, one of Netflix’s biggest moves to create local content in India.

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PUBG themed Hindi web-series Dosti Ka Naya Maidan

Tencent Games has announced a first-of-its-kind web series in India, based on its insanely popular action game PUBG. The five-part series, titled Dosti Ka Naya Maidan, has been developed by the PUBG Mobile India team and will go live on December 25. To tap into PUBG's viral popularity in India, the show has been created in Hindi. It also explores locally-relevant entertainment narratives such as dosti (friendship).

90% of new users coming online are Indian language users, says Google India

Hindi web consumption has grown at over 90% compared to English that recorded only at 19% growth, according to Google India. Recognising the growing demand for Indian language content amongst the users, there have been several India-first language products launched in the recent past, and the company has also integrated greater Indian language support across their existing products and services.

Google launched Voice Search in Hindi in 2014, Hindi tab on the search results page in June 2016 and enabled Hindi users to simply tap it to access search results in their language. Google Assistant was launched in 2017, and it was extended to Hindi in March 2018. "To help Indian language users more effectively benefit from the power of the web, we have launched numerous voice and language experiences across our products including Google Assistant, Maps, Search, Translate, Chrome and Gboard,” said Nidhi Gupta, Senior Product Manager, Google India.

Internet User Base in India:

• Monthly active Internet users in India: 460 Million 
• Total base of Smartphone Users: 380-400 Million 
• New internet users added per annum between 2015-2018: 40+ Million 
• 9 out of 10 new users coming online are Indian language users 
• 68% users consider Indic content more trustworthy

Twitter seeks public input in Hindi on fake photos and videos

Twitter is seeking public input on a new policy that the social network is developing about photos and videos that have been altered or fabricated. Hindi is one among the 6 languages the inputs have been sought in as India remains one of the fastest growing markets globally. The other languages are English, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese.

Twitter said synthetic and manipulated media is any photo, audio, or video that has been significantly altered or fabricated in a way that intends to mislead people or changes its original meaning. These are sometimes referred to as deep fakes or shallow fakes.

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