Ping Digital expands into new genres

India's first digital broadcasting network follows up music and food with a network on fashion, fitness and technology

Sohini Sen | Mumbai | July 30, 2013

India's first digital broadcasting network, Ping Digital Broadcast, launched India Food Network and India Music Network around five months back. This has been recently followed up with networks in fitness, fashiona and technology.

"We noticed a change in pattern in consumption as well as change in audience behaviour. People watch television because it is there, it is available. What we are doing is giving them the opportunity to discover what they want to watch, when they want to watch it. People who are looking for something or are passionate about something will find this useful," said Prashanto Das, Founder, Ping Digital Broadcast.

Das, a national and international award-winning creative professional with 19 years of experience in broadcast operations for some of India's leading networks and media companies, along with television and print journalist Govindraj Ethiraj started Ping to provide content anytime, anywhere, for anyone.

For Das, the focus is now to build content and then promote it. For this reason, Ping has partnered with Google/YouTube in India to produce and distribute original content through a network of channels hosted on YouTube. To explain simply, Ping Digital is a platform running proprietary channels as well as working with young talent to build their own television front-ends.

According to latest data, India has the third largest number of internet users in the world, behind only the USA and China. Further, the number of internet users in India is expected to nearly triple from 125 million in 2011 to 330 million by 2016, says a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

The fact that the digital domain is growing is easily understandable. For India Food Network, Ping has garnered over 16,000 subscribers and 23,000 Facebook fans in the last five months. The videos watched, if translated into real day and week time, is enough to cover 12 years and 3 months worth of videos.

Keeping the growth potential in view, it is not surprising that a digital broadcast network has spread its wings in India. After having raised its angel round of funding from two investors, Ashwin Dhamera, former Founder of Travelguru, and Ankur Daga, CEO of Angara.com, a New York based precious stones e-commerce venture, Ping hopes to expand its reach to 200 channels by the end of the fiscal year. These will comprise various genres including food, music, lifestyle, technology and fitness.

“We wish to grow and enjoy a leadership position in a few years. Ping will also expand into other categories that will be interesting. One point I would like to make is that we are not just providing content. We are creating conversations and building communities of passionate people with an interest in these topics," commented Das.

Sohini.Sen@BestMediaInfo.com

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