Video streaming service HOOQ has appointed Zulfiqar Khan as the managing director for its Indian operations. Khan was formerly the business head of Eros Now for over 2.5 years. There he was responsible for strategic planning, growth initiatives, business partnerships and original content in the video-on-demand service.
He will replace Salil Kapoor who recently quit the company, according to a TelevisionPost report. Before his stint at Eros Now, Khan worked with Star India for over 16 years, serving various roles across sales, business development and revenue growth.
HOOQ launched in India in May 2015, with a focus on Hollywood content. It is a joint venture between Singapore-based telecom service provider Singtel, Sony Pictures Television and Warner Bros, and is currently operational in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, and Singapore. Notably, both Warner Bros and Sony are big producers of mainstream movies and TV shows in the US, and their content gets features on HOOQ.
However, as the popularity and need for Indic language content online spikes, Khan will face the challenge of driving growth on the back of English language content. Most competitors of HOOQ in the space, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hotstar, ALTBalaji, Voot, among others, host content not only in Hindi, but also other regional languages. Many are even producing original regional language content. This comes when a report by industry body Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) finds that up to 70% of current internet users consume indic video or audio content. Such content also serves as a key motivator for nearly 23% of all non-users consider indic content a key motivator to get online.
