MUMBAI, India and TORONTO, March 14, 2022 /CNW/ - QYOU Media Inc. (TSXV: QYOU) (OTCQB: QYOUF) has announced that The Q India, the company's Hindi language youth oriented channel, now available in over 122 million TV households and to over 676 million users via OTT, mobile and app based platforms in India, has successfully been awarded a new distribution agreement from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023 in the annual auction held last week. The Q India expects to benefit materially from the recent channel line-up changes on DD Free Dish that occurred during the auction this year.
In a development during the DD Free Dish distribution auction this month, India's "Big 4" television broadcast channels from Star, Sony, Viacom and Zee elected not to renew their carriage on the platform. DD Free Dish requires all private channels broadcasting on the platform, including The Q India, to renew their distribution agreements annually via an auction. Media analysts have opined that the development was spurred by the Big 4 channels' collective desire to focus on their distribution relationships with Pay TV satellite and cable platforms where they receive monthly subscription fees and discontinue being available on platforms such as DD Free Dish where consumers do not pay any fees to watch the content nor does DD Free Dish pay any subscription fees to the channels broadcasting on the platform.
The Big 4 channels will 'go dark' on April 1, 2022 at which time the remaining Free-To-Air General Entertainment Channels carried on DD Free Dish, such as The Q India, are expected to be the beneficiaries of added audience and revenue. The Q India has experienced substantial audience growth over the last year, in part via the success of its presence on DD Free Dish with its user base of over 40 million subscriber homes. With the strong focus of The Q India on Tier 2 & Tier 3 cities and rural India, DD Free Dish provides a unique and powerful platform to help support the growth of both viewership and ad revenue for the channel.
Curt Marvis, Co-Founder and CEO of QYOU Media commented, "It is hard to believe that only one year ago our distribution on DD Free Dish helped drive The Q India to new levels of viewership that now see us reaching over 100 million people every week. This has translated into a steady stream to The Q of top advertisers, growing brand equity and most importantly, strong revenue growth. We will see how the departure of the "Big 4" channels on the DD Free Dish platform affects us going forward and we will be pushing very hard in the coming weeks and months to win over as much of that audience as possible. We're confident that the unique and fresh content we feature on our channel will be both engaging and sticky as DD Free Dish viewers become more likely to sample it given the circumstances. Our entire team is excited about the opportunity to capture more DD Free Dish viewers who are searching for great new and original programming."
About QYOU Media
QYOU Media operates in India and the United States producing and distributing content created by social media stars and digital content creators. In India, via our flagship brand, The Q and the upcoming Q Marathi and Q Kahaniyan, we curate, produce and distribute premium content including television networks and VOD for cable and satellite television, OTT, mobile, smart TV's and app based platforms. Our India based influencer marketing division, Chtrbox, is among India's leading influencer marketing platforms connecting brands and social media influencers. In the United States, we create and manage influencer marketing campaigns for major film studios, game publishers and brands. Founded and created by industry veterans from Lionsgate, MTV, Disney and Sony, QYOU Media's millennial and Gen Z-focused content reaches more than one billion consumers around the world every month. Experience our work at www.qyoumedia.com and www.theq.tv
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SOURCE QYOU Media Inc.
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