Flipkart launches original content to strengthen its video services

Ecommerce major Flipkart has launched Flipkart Video Originals, an original video content offering produced by popular names from the Indian entertainment industry.

The offering is “both mobile-first and interactive in nature,” Walmart owned-Flipkart said in a statement Tuesday.

The Flipkart Video platform was launched in August this year. Academy Award winner Guneet Monga has been roped in as a creator for the original videos. She will both create and curate short stories for the platform, the statement added.

“When we launched our video platform earlier this year, our agenda was clear and we were keen to play a role in on-boarding new customers who are not necessarily new to the internet but are new to e-commerce,” Prakash Sikaria, vice president at the Flipkart’s growth and monetisation division said.

‘Backbenchers,’ a talk show series is expected to go live later this month. The show features Indian celebrities and will be hosted by Bollywood producer and choreographer, Farah Khan.

The Bengaluru-headquartered unicorn claims it will work with production houses such as Studio Next, Frames and Sikhya Productions to create video offerings across genres and languages.

The Amazon rival’s over-the-top offerings come at a time when India’s appetite for mobile-first video content is at an all-time high.

Last month, restaurant aggregator Zomato launched original video offerings as a separate unit on its app.

Video-based content is becoming the most preferred type in India, with more than 68% choosing it over text-based content.

Earlier this month, a report by global management consulting firm Zinnov spotted vernacular content to be a key ask by the Indian consumer, with more than 70% of them preferring content in regional language over Hindi and English.