BIG Announcements by HOICHOI in their annual virtual event #hoichoiSeason4

hoichoi, for the first time, reveals it now has  
13 million cumulative subscribers with 40% of its direct revenue  
coming from International customers.  

At hoichoi Season 4, its annual event, hoichoi launches the first look of its upcoming slate of 25 Original Web Series, with marque creators!  

• Taking web content to a new level, hoichoi announces its collaboration with creators like Srijit Mukherji, Dhrubo Banerjee, Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Anirban Bhattacharya, Debaloy Bhattacharya, Q, Kamaleswar Mukherjee among others. 
   

• Reveals 2x growth in revenue in the past year and looks to continue to do so in coming years. 
   

• Will soon revamp its Mobile & TV apps and website - unveils a sneak peek of the new user interface and experience in its Annual Event - hoichoi Season 4. 
  

• 

Kolkata, 18th September 2020: hoichoi, the leading Bengali OTT platform globally, has completed 3 years since launching in 2017. As it begins its 4th year, the OTT player has made a mark amongst the leading OTT players in India and with these announcements, has taken a big leap towards what they call their three pillars – Content, Tech and Distribution. Following are details of each announcement: 

Content 

With the mission of entertaining people in their local language, hoichoi has unveiled a fresh slate of its next 25 new Originals, 2 First Day First Show films and multiple World Digital Premiere Movies to be released on hoichoi after their theatrical release with an initial lineup of Dracula Sir, Kakababur Protyaborton, Prem Tame and Golondaaj. For the upcoming year, with a “dream team” of new creators on board like Parambrata Chattopadhyay, Srijit Mukherji, Dhrubo Banerjee, Anirban Bhattacharya, Kamaleswar Mukherjee, Mitali Bhattacharya among others and our most loved ones like Charitraheen’s Debaloy Bhattacharya, Hello’s Sahana Dutta, Taranath Tantrik’s Q, BreakUp Story’s Mainak Bhaumik and many more, hoichoi looks to add an impressive catalogue to its existing one of 60 Original Web Series, 14 Original Films and over 500 Movies. 

Tech 

hoichoi also revealed today its new UI/UX design and is in the process of recreating its apps and website by adopting the newest technology and tools available to further enhance the experience of customers on the platform.

A Parental Control feature will soon be added following hoichoi becoming one of the 15 OTT platforms who have signed up for a self-regulation code under IAMAI. hoichoi believes that this is a concerted effort on the part of all OTT platforms in India, henceforth, to have a common content classification standard while offering consumers a say in addressing any gaps that may exist and at the same time ensuring that creative freedom is not curtailed. 

 

Distribution 

Having subscribers from over 100 countries including Japan, Sweden, Argentina, Iceland and more, hoichoi announces Carrier Billing – an affordable way to consume hoichoi in the form of sachet pricing so that users can buy a hoichoi subscription for a week or a month by paying with their mobile balance. This will soon be available for users in Bangladesh and Middle East. There’s also Subscription Bundling specifically, for customers in India with Jio Fiber and in Bangladesh with a leading telecom network. 

Vishnu Mohta, Co-Founder of hoichoi, said “These three years have been the most rewarding years of my life and I am proud of how far we’ve come in this short time. In March when the world went into lockdown, we realised that it was now more important than ever that we continue to entertain our audience. In the last 6 months, we have continued to release many Word Digital Premiere Movies, Original Shows and Films as well as most recently our newest property – First Day First Show – for direct-to-digital films. Today, as the world starts to open up and we look forward for Year 4 of hoichoi, I am really excited about the shows and films we have planned which I believe comprise our best content lineup so far. In addition, our partnerships with Jio Fiber and leading Telecom companies in Middle East and Bangladesh will bring us closer to our customers and provide convenient ways to pay for hoichoi. All this sets us up for our next phase of growth taking us closer to our vision of entertaining people in their own local language.”

Mahendra Soni, Co-Founder of SVF & hoichoi added, “It amazes me that from a simple idea in 2016, hoichoi has built such a global reach of 13 million ever subscribers with 40% of its direct revenue from international customers. In 2017, when we launched hoichoi, our biggest motivation was to be able to tell great stories, work with fresh talent and reach out to a bigger Bengali diaspora around the world. We have curated a vast library of Movies that includes World Premieres, the latest Blockbusters and all time Classics. We have also released over 60 Original shows – that’s an average of almost 2 shows every single month from the time we launched. We have worked with some of the most prominent creators from Bangladesh and have curated Movies and produced Shows created by local talent. hoichoi’s upcoming year will be our biggest step forward in telling impactful, differentiated stories. I want to thank the hoichoi and SVF team for making it possible through their exceptional hard work.” 

Here is the list of the upcoming slate:

25 Original Series	Description
Charitraheen 3	Swastika Mukherjee as the lead in Charitraheen 3! hoichoi’s most watched tale of love, lust and pain is back and we love everything from director Debaloy Bhattacharya!
Hello 3	Hello – Remember me? The Series that needs no introduction. hoichoi's most wanted series is back with a fresh 3rd season with Raima Sen, Priyanka Sarkar and a new male protagonist...stay tuned to know who that is!
Mahabharat Murders	What happens when Duryodhan returns in 2021 to take revenge? Presenting Mahabharat Murders – an adaptation of the best-selling book ‘The Mahabharat Murders’ by Arnab Ray, can Ruksana save the next victim?
Devdas O Ekti Khuner  Golpo	Another Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay classic – once more by Debaloy. And to take it to the next level we have a scintillating cast…Arjun, Raima and Madhumita.
Thakumar Jhuli	Q is adapting Thakumar Jhuli the famous Bengali folklore in his own style.
Robindronath Ekhane  Kawkhono Khete  Aashenni	Srijit Mukherji’s first hoichoi series, adapted from a very famous novel from Bangladesh - “Robindronath Ekhane Kawkhono Khete Aashenni” is about a Detective, who reaches the famed restaurant of the same name to uncover the truth behind its mysterious owner, Muskaan Zuberi.
Byomkesh S6	"Magna Mainak", one of the most popular Byomkesh Stories with superstar Anirban Bhattacharya playing the Satwanyeshi and Soumik Halder, captaining the ship!
Damayanti	A professor of history; a computer hacker; married to a loveable husband but her passion lies in cracking psychological cases – Presenting our first women detective franchise Damayanti – Played by the gorgeous Tuhina.
Tansener Tanpura Part 2	hoichoi's most watched show of 2020, Tansener Tanpura featuring Vikram and Rupsa will culminate this Diwali!
Bonyo Premer Golpo 2	Bonyo Premer Golpo returns for season 2 in which Crime of Passion meets Crime of Desire. The story deals with the murky world of mental asylum! Arjun Chakraborty joins Tnusree for this gruesome thriller.
Money Honey 2	hoichoi’s most popular series created in Bangladesh – Money Honey, returns with its sequel. This time the stakes are higher and the chase is wilder!
Lolita	Mainak Bhaumik is ready with one more unconventional relationship drama and this time he goes one step further to explore the intimacy.
Laal Mati	What happens when someone decides to play God? After the greatly acclaimed ‘Shobdo Jobdo’ starring Rajat Kapoor, Sourav Chakraborty directs his next series - Laal Mati!
Rahasya Romancho Series 3	Montu Pilot aka Saurav Das will be seen portraying the role of a man who believes he is dead in “Rahasya Romancho Series, Season 3”.
Shei Je Holud Pakhi 2	Will the father-daughter reunion solve the mystery around Vaidehi’s death? The much-awaited Shei Je Holud Pakhi will return soon with Tridha and Saswata Chatterjee.
Taqdeer	Adding another ambitious show created in Bangladesh, Taqdeer, starring the one and only Chanchal Chowdhury, plays a man who gets entangled in a murder scandal when he discovers a dead body in his freezer trunk.
Chowringhee	A slice of urban city life mixed with high octane drama and topped with foot tapping music. Chowringhee is a roller coaster ride of relationships!
Mohomaya	One of the most loved storytellers, Sahana Dutta is now turning producer with Mohomaya! This also marks the debut of Kamaleswar Mukherjee as a director on the web platform…...Talk about a magical combo!
Ganga	A never seen before tale of Drug trading through the Ganges! Rudranil Ghosh creates Ganga for hoichoi starring Soumitra Chatterjee as the gang lord!
Eken Babu 4	Eken Babu returns to solve another crime in the exotic Rajbari at Murshidabad in his signature style.
MakeUp Story	Coming Valentine’s day, Mainak Bhaumik will help you find your soulmate irrespective of your age.
Bhalo Thakish Baba	Bhalo Thakish Baba helmed by Mizanur Rahman Aryan is a realistic take on the current Bangladesh social construct.
Gora	A new detective created by Sahana Dutta! This series marks the web debut of Ritwick Chakraborty who plays the role of a defective detective – Gora!
Intuition	Well-known creator Mitali Bhattacharya who has done some great shows in Hindi has written Intuition! Not one but two Big screen icons are making their web platform debut - Soham and Srabanti.
Mandaar	And finally introducing a new property “hoichoi World Classics”, under which hoichoi will be bringing literary adaptations of classic plays and stories from around the world. Starting with Mandaar, based on Macbeth. This marks Anirban Bhattacharya’s first series as a Creator!
2 First Day First Show Films	Description
Kolkata Underground	Presenting Parambrata Chattopadhay as a creator for our next FDFS!   Yes, he is ready with his next project which is a jubilant musical journey coupled with violent gang wars, politician-builder nexus... together, it's a chequered landscape that emerges from the fringe of Kolkata where underdogs refuse to die and rewrite their destiny through music. Star cast to be revealed soon!
Tiktiki	After the super successful Guptodhon series, director Dhrubo Banerjee is collaborating with us for his first direct-to-digital release. The film is an adaptation of ‘Sleuth’, the famous 1970 play by Anthony Shaffer. hoichoi's First Day First Show showcases this unique whodunit story strangely obsessed with dangerous make-believe games. These games become a challenge and duel between the two main players, each of whom seek to be the victor. Casting is a surprise!

Watch the Virtual Event here: bit.ly/hoichoiS4_MainAnnouncements 

About hoichoi:  

hoichoi is a leading Bengali entertainment platform with over 2,000+ hours of Movies, exclusive Original Series, Songs, Music Videos and more. hoichoi aims to take the best of Bengali content globally and connect the 250+ million Bengalis residing worldwide to their roots. With features like Offline Download, AD free Seamless Viewing Experience, unlimited HD Video Streaming, Bilingual Interface (English & Bengali), Multi-Device Capability, Progressive Web App, Parental Controls and English Subtitles – one can download the hoichoi App from Android (http://bit.ly/AndroidHCDownload) and iOS App Stores (http://bit.ly/iTunesHCDownload) to watch on their Mobile Phones, as well as on Desktop/Laptop through www.hoichoi.tv and on TVs through Amazon Firestick, Android TV, Apple TV, Mi LED TV, LG SMART TV, Samsung TV and Roku.

Founded in 2017, hoichoi is the maiden venture of SVF under its new media section, and is headed by Co-Founder Vishnu Mohta who is also the Executive Director of SVF.