PremiumNEW DELHI: In what may be a prelude to the launch of video-on-demand service in India, media and entertainment company WarnerMedia has announced the appointment of Amit Malhotra as managing director for its streaming service HBO Max in southeast Asia and India.
Malhotra will report to Johannes Larcher, head of HBO Max International, and will be responsible for the rollout and management of WarnerMedia’s direct-to-consumer platform in southeast Asia.
Malhotra will immediately assume responsibility for the management of HBO GO, WarnerMedia’s existing OTT (over-the-top) streaming service available in eight territories across southeast Asia and, going forward, spearhead the introduction of HBO Max in these territories, the company said in a statement.
Under Malhotra’s leadership, WarnerMedia expects to launch HBO Max in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam in the future. Malhotra will also be responsible for exploring possible opportunities to launch HBO Max in new and fast-growing Asian streaming markets such as India, the statement said.
India is currently home to more than 50 OTT platforms, including foreign players like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video as well as local players like ZEE5, ALTBalaji and SonyLIV. The covid-19 pandemic led to over 60% increase in viewership across platforms which built on the opportunity with local language content and acquisition of films meant for theatrical release.
Malhotra has served as regional lead for Disney+ in southeast Asia, where he was responsible for overseeing the launch and operations of the streaming services in the region, including Disney+, Disney+ Hotstar and Hotstar. He also led the content sales and distribution division as part of the Walt Disney Company’s direct-to-consumer and international (DTCI) business in South APAC (Asia and Pacific) and the Middle East.
“With our upcoming launch across Latin America on June 29 and our plans for Europe on the horizon, we turn our sights toward Asia, where we have an incredible opportunity to bring HBO Max to millions of new fans who are just as excited about streaming as our audiences in the U.S," Larcher said in a statement.
Malhotra’s experience in launching streaming services in both mature and emerging markets across southeast Asia and the surrounding region make him ideal to oversee the rollout of HBO Max and its expanded content offering, said Larcher.
In his statement Malhotra said that WarnerMedia will look into bringing HBO Max to the Asia region considering its brands including DC Universe, HBO and Cartoon Network are extremely popular with audiences here.
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