CloudTV fosters a democratic partnership model with its content providers, enabling them to effectively reach their target audiences while enhancing content discovery for consumers, Abhijeet Rajpurohit, COO and Co-Founder of CloudTV, said while emphasising that the platform serves as a central hub for family entertainment, regardless of language, genre, or application, offering an efficient and seamless experience for all users.
Cloud TV, a TV Operating System (OS) developed by Mumbai-based CloudWalker Streaming Technologies, bridges the gap between affordability and premium features by bringing all the features available in high-end TV brands to the affordable TV segment in India.
In a conversation with Marketing Mind, Rajpurohit shared insights into CloudTV’s journey as a proud made-in-India brand, highlighting its evolution and growth in the highly competitive Smart TV market, stating that CloudTV OS was built for an inhouse TV brand called CloudWalker TV in 2017.
“Within two years, we began partnering with other TV manufacturers to provide software solutions for their smart TVs. There was no other Indian OS available in the market and with the growing demand for smart TVs, our credible made-in-India product, CloudTV, resonated well with the Indian TV OEMs. Since then, we have collaborated with more than 100 OTT app partners, 200+ TV brands, and 250+ FAST TV channels across India,” he added.
Furthermore, he went on to say that FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV) has been instrumental in smart TVs’ growth strategy by offering users free, convenient access to a variety of content without subscription fees, which enhances user engagement and adoption.
“For CloudTV OS, integrating FAST channels aligns with our mission to deliver affordable entertainment solutions optimised for low-cost devices. By expanding our content offerings and enhancing the viewing experience, we’re able to attract new users and increase retention, particularly in price-sensitive markets,” he added.
Rajpurohit highlighted the key trends fueling the growth of Smart TV operating systems and OTT services in India, while also detailing how CloudTV is strategically positioning itself to leverage these emerging opportunities.
He explained that the industry has been abuzz with discussions about the rising OS wars globally, and CloudTV was quick to identify this trend early in the Indian market. It gave a voice to the Indian TV OEMs when the global competitors had a monopoly in the market. By offering an Indian OS that understood the unique needs and limitations of the local partners, CloudTV quickly established itself as a trusted OS partner for many.
“A country with more than a billion people presents a significant opportunity for smart TV OS brands and OTT services to reach. The diverse cultural and linguistic preferences of Indian consumers led CloudTV to form strategic partnerships with several relevant regional OTT services, which adds value to people’s entertainment needs. These partnerships are carefully thought through to help the evolving smart TV market in the country,” Rajpurohit added.
Additionally, CTV advertising is emerging as a key trend, offering a lucrative platform for advertisers to reach a growing audience. CloudTV is already strategically working with partners to tap into these opportunities, reinforcing its commitment to reach a wider audience.
When asked about the distinguishing factors that set CloudTV apart from other brands in terms of technology and user experience, Rajpurohit highlighted, “One of our biggest wins has been our competitive go-to-market timeline for TV brands. Unlike global OS providers, who may take several months to grant licences to TV OEMs and brands, we can complete this process in just a few weeks.”
Another big technical differentiator is CloudTV’s versatility in hardware compatibility. While many global OS platforms have strict hardware specifications, Cloud TV can be configured to work seamlessly with all types of hardware. This flexibility allows both small and large brands to compete effectively in the market.
“As a result, our technology helps keep TVs affordable for the end consumer, making high-quality entertainment accessible and easy for everyone. The consumers can access a full range of OTT services and FAST channels on the TV, without having to pay a premium cost for the TV,” he added.
Furthermore, he went on to say that CloudTV was one of the firsts to introduce a content recommendation row on the homepage UI of the smart TVs in India, enhancing user engagement and content discovery.
“One of our more significant achievements is integrating regional languages into our AI Voice Assistant, catering to the diverse linguistic preferences of Indian consumers. Currently, CloudTV OS supports Gujarati, Marathi, and Hindi, with more regional languages to be added soon,” Rajpurohit stated.
Highlighting the key challenges CloudTV is encountering in the Indian Smart TV market, he shared, “One of our key challenges is maintaining a premium TV experience on affordable TVs. Adapting the software to different hardware requirements is another challenge that is often tackled successfully. These challenges provide us with the opportunity to explore new technological solutions.”
“Additionally, collaborating with OTT partners and optimising our software to support smooth streaming of these new partnerships requires careful planning from both sides. To address these challenges, there is also extensive research and development in place to continue to understand the market and its requirements better and how to always stay ahead of the curve,” he added.
Highlighting CloudTV’s most significant content partnerships to date, Rajpurohit shared that they have partnered with leading platforms like Disney+Hotstar, Amazon Prime, Jio Cinema, Zee5, and SonyLIV, among others.
“As our reach has expanded, we have also added regional as part of our strategic partnership plan catering to diverse audience preferences across India. This provides the OTT partnerships with a growing consumer base all over India and the ease of accessibility to their favourite content to our viewers,” he said.
“Additionally, we offer a selection of FAST channels like TV Today Network (Aaj Tak and India Today), Network18, TV9 Network, Republic TV, and India TV. To optimise content discovery for our users, we closely engage with over 200 content partners, staying attuned to trending and popular content. This allows us to propose tailored recommendations that enhance the overall viewing experience,” he added.
Discussing the strategies to identify and cater to the varied needs of consumers in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, as well as the measures being implemented to expand their reach in these regions, Rajpurohit stated that affordability is a big factor when it comes to purchase of smart TVs in these tier 2 and 3 cities.
“To address this, our specifications allow the TV manufacturers to work on affordable TVs which consumers can easily purchase without compromising on features. CloudTV also works with content partners to help them reach out to their target audiences with strategic partnerships,” he added.
He mentioned that it is important to understand that they work on a B2B business model. This is a software that runs a smart TV and the hardware can be on any brand that wishes to work with them. Having said that, one of the ways we keep their product affordable is by being flexible with their specifications while working with TV OEMs and brands. This allows for manufacturers to make affordable smart TVs providing better reach in the Indian market.
“We work with our content partners in a more democratic manner to help them reach out to their target audiences effectively. This benefits both the content partners and the consumers who want content discovery to be much easier and efficient. Irrespective of language, genre or application, CloudTV becomes a central hub for entertainment for families,” Rajpurohit added.
With Connected TV (CTV) revolutionising India’s advertising landscape, he emphasised the significant opportunities it presents for advertisers and explained how Cloud TV is enabling them to capitalise on this transformative shift.
He explained that CTV ads are more affordable than traditional TV ads, which is an attractive opportunity for advertisers in the Indian market. It means there could be more brands that can come onboard reaching out to their customers. Since CloudTV is enabling affordable smart TVs in tier 2 and 3 cities as well, you can also expect a lot of local and regional brands to get an opportunity to reach out to their target audience. And unlike traditional TV ads, CTV ads can be interactive and engaging. This is more relevant to the viewers.
“CloudTV is working with advertisers to make all of this possible and provide the right ad platform that connects with the consumer. We are the only Indian OS to support CTV ads in the market, and that gives us a unique perspective and understanding on how this advertising landscape will evolve,” he added.
In conclusion, he emphasised that they will soon launch CloudTV OS for Set-Top Boxes. There are always plans of expansion in the pipeline and potential partnerships that help expand the market reach for the brand.
“CloudTV’s goal has always been to Power Entertainment in Every Home and democratise the way Indians consume content on their smart TVs, and we’re here to do that. Grateful for our partners and our growing CloudTV community that is helping us achieve just that,” he added.
