Dor aims to make the smart screen smarter continuously: Anuj Gandhi

Streambox Media, a strategic media-tech venture founded by Anuj Gandhi and backed by Micromax Informatics, along with Nikhil Kamath and Stride Ventures, has announced the launch of Dor, touted as India’s first subscription-based television service. Focusing on technological innovation and seamless user experience, Dor is set to transform how Indian households access and enjoy entertainment at home and on the move. This one-of-its-kind product-as-a-service model is set to go live in India through Flipkart on December 1, 2024, subsequently opening to other platforms and the offline distribution ecosystem.

Dor integrates a high-performance 4K QLED TV with SVOD OTT streaming platforms, AVOD platforms, Live channels, Gaming, News and more into a single, affordable monthly subscription plan. Powered by India’s indigenously designed and developed, Dor TV OS, the subscription platform ensures an intuitive and unified viewing experience for consumers, eliminating fragmented navigation across multiple devices or apps.

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Streambox Media Launches Dor: India’s First Subscription TV Service

In conversation with Adgully, Anuj Gandhi, Founder and CEO, Streambox Media, delves into the key strategies behind Dor, a subscription-based TV service designed to cater to the evolving preferences of the younger generation. From content curation to monetization, Gandhi shares his insights on how Dor aims to captivate audiences, challenge the status quo, and secure a leading position in the highly competitive OTT market. He also sheds light on the future of television in India, and more.

How do you plan to adapt to the changing consumer behavior, especially with younger demographics increasingly driving OTT consumption?

The intuitive platform that we made is made for the younger generation, while we have taken care of the older generation by adding a lot more other genres and content. The platform is digital-first and very intuitive for the younger generation. In fact, one of the things that we considered when we started doing our ecosystem management was the companion app, which is specifically made for Gen Z. Our core audience itself remains Gen Z and the latter half of millennials who are now moving out, getting married, and settling down. So, for us that’s a very important segment.

As ad-supported models and hybrid subscription models continue to grow, what monetization strategies do you see as most effective in the OTT space by 2025?

Dor as a concept remains a subscription ecosystem. There is enough and more growth and opportunity available in the market to keep the subscription part of the business going. The advertising supported ecosystem will ride once we get the numbers and we will play our role in that as we have the real estate to monetize, etc., but our focus will remain on subscription.

What steps are you taking to improve subscriber retention and reduce churn, especially in the highly competitive OTT environment?

For us, the challenge will not be so much about churn, because people will want their TV to work and we will come with our own benefits and upgrades on OS to keep them engaged. Tomorrow, we can do gaming ecosystem, drill down on TV, commerce, etc. So, we don’t have much to worry about churn.

For us, the challenge will remain how to keep the customer engaged on more cohorts that Dor can create than just content. So, gaming, TV, commerce – how do I make the smart screen smarter continuously?

How are you balancing the need for monetization with the desire to provide value to your consumers without overwhelming them with too many ads or price hikes?

We will keep it very simple at launch. For example, we don’t have many packs; we have only introduced one pack. Even going forward, the intention is not to confuse the customer, but keep it very simple for him and only provide offers which are give them as much value for money as possible Even from our pricing standpoint on the hardware, we are being extremely competitive and will continue to be so because we want to democratize ownership of hardware and SVOD services.

How do strategic partnerships with telecom operators, device manufacturers, and other OTT services contribute to your market positioning and growth?

We are a digital-first company and for us partnerships, relationships, long-term arrangements will remain key, and as we grow – whether it is with the device manufacturers, ISP or telecom providers or even the subscription OTT subscription – everybody is a partner. We also have lots of tech partners. We believe in long-term partnerships and we have got a networking ecosystem in place with a highly experienced team. We believe we will be able to do long-term sustainable viable deals.

How do you plan to expand and diversify your content library to stay competitive in an increasingly crowded market?

We are aggregating every app and content that is available. So, as and when more content pieces are available, we will be doing our packages accordingly. For us, more different diverse content that OTT does, the more options we have for our consumers.

Also Read: Streambox Media Launches Dor: India’s First Subscription TV Service