Mumbai: Triple Com Media (iTap) Mumbai, has announced a strategic partnership with NextPlay Technologies. NextPlay’s in-game advertising (IGA) unit, HotPlay has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with iTap, Mumbai. It is an OTT entertainment and gaming platform in India that offers comedy shorts, mobisodes, films, serials, lifestyle features, gaming and esports content targeted to Indian smartphone audiences.
The MOU aims at a partnership that will target India’s fast growing online gaming audience and later also extend to international markets in fourth quarter of 2022 when iTap expands overseas. The collaboration includes integration of HotPlay’s In-Game Advertising (IGA) tech into iTap’s existing entertainment, gaming, and e-sports content. HotPlay’s hyper-casual game portfolio currently includes more than fifty exciting games and growing which will also be on boarded onto iTap’s existing library of casual and trivia games and quizzes. The joint effort is designed to create an ecosystem in-line with both organisation’s business objectives while entertaining India’s 400 million plus gaming audience.
Despite the pandemic and recent economic turmoil, the parties believe that India remains a bright spot for growth. The partnership aims to seize opportunities in the high growth markets of hyper-casual genre games, e-sports, and gaming tournaments. Both parties view hyper-casual gaming as an opportunity due to its easy-to-play nature that engages broad audience age groups.
NextPlay co-CEO Nithinan Boonyawattanapisut stated, “The company sees great opportunity in the Indian market, not only from the size of the market itself but also from the remarkable growth rate of its entertainment segment, particularly in the hyper-casual game space and overall gaming industry. We are optimistic about this strategic collaboration with iTAP’s fast-growing OTT platform and an opportunity to enter the Indian market. We believe in the recent completion of our goGame asset purchase, our hyper-casual game portfolio and our HotPlay.”
“The parties added that an IGA solution offers great synergistic value to a diversified entertainment platform like iTap. The integration of HotPlay games and IGA will better position iTAP’s entertainment ecosystem in India and augment revenue opportunities through iTAP’s rapidly growing user base.” he added.
Triple Com Media, iTap founder & CEO Kunal Dasgupta said, “HotPlay will help strengthen iTAP’s gaming profile and integrating IGA into iTap also creates promotional extensions such as in-game coupons, rewards, and contests. These synergies are expected to be very beneficial and relevant for marketers besides additional opportunities for iTap and HotPlay to explore collaboration in new, emerging areas like NFTs, digital fashion and virtual artefacts for the Metaverse.”
Dasgupta is a veteran in the Indian media and entertainment industry; prior to founding iTAP he was Sony Pictures Networks (India) CEO for 15 years.
