HOOQ ‘Smart dubs’ a choice move
Until recently, media companies have been paying humans to watch each TV episode to manually key in or translate the subtitle. HOOQ - a South-East Asia-based VoD service - is taking a different approach by leveraging machine learning (ML) to automate and localise its entire content library for the Indian market.
HOOQ aims to cater to the diverse Indian market by providing both subtitles and audio dubs in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu to international blockbusters.
The OTT provider has embarked on a year-long development project with external partners to create “Smart dubs” from scratch; it would begin processing content with proprietary technology that takes advantage of artificial intelligence (AI) and ML.
Zulfiqar Khan, managing director, HOOQ India, said: “We want to ensure that consumers across India are able to watch everything, from international blockbuster movies to their favourite English-language series to amazing HOOQ originals, in a language that they know, understand and are comfortable with.”
Apart from delivering Hollywood blockbusters in local languages, HOOQ is focusing on bringing in more HOOQ originals to its platform and offering a variety of content that will appeal to the Indian market.
According to an Ernst & Young report, in the land of a billion screens, the media and entertainment sector in India will grow to US$33.6 billion by 2021, and the largest growth is attributed to the proliferation of digital platforms.
Peter Bithos, CEO, HOOQ, said: “We have rapidly grown our consumer footprint across India and South-East Asia through continual focus, a deep understanding of local markets as well as key partnerships with market-leading companies in the telecoms, digital services and entertainment space.
“It is through these partnerships that we have been able to grow at scale. As such, we will continue to enhance our existing relationships and cultivate new ones with like-minded partners to deliver a rich and meaningful video experience for consumers in India, in a language of their choice.”
