Voot

Voot was an Indian over-the-top media service (OTT) owned by Viacom18. First launched in March 2016, it offered content from Viacom18's local brands, as well as original series. It initially launched as an advertising-supported service, before introducing a subscription tier in 2020 under the Voot Select banner.

Voot

Type of business	Subsidiary
Type of site	OTT platform
Available in	Hindi English Bengali Marathi Gujarati Tamil Telugu Malayalam Kannada
Dissolved	9 August 2023 (2023-08-09)
Successor(s)	JioCinema
Headquarters	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Area served	India United Kingdom (Virgin Media only) United States (Sling TV only)
Owner	Viacom18
Industry	Entertainment Mass media
Products	Streaming media Video on demand Digital distribution
Services	Film production Film distribution Television production
Parent	Paramount Global
Registration	Optional
Launched	29 March 2016 (2016-03-29)
Current status	Discontinued

History

Launched in March 2016, Voot initially operated as an advertising-supported service.^[1]

In February 2020, Voot introduced a paid subscription service known as Voot Select, offering exclusive original series, and early access to selected programmes before their television premiere.^[2]

In April 2022, Reliance Industries and Paramount Global announced additional financial backing from Uday Shankar and James Murdoch's Bodhi Tree Systems to expand their streaming business. This would include Reliance's competing JioCinema service being brought under Viacom18.^[3][4] The agreement was approved by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in September 2022.^[5]

The two services initially co-existed, but Voot began to wind down and migrate its content to JioCinema in August 2023, beginning with sports rights such as the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and upcoming rights to the Indian Premier League.^[6] New series of Voot originals began premiering on JioCinema in June 2023.^[7][8]

In August 2023, Voot was shut down in favour of JioCinema.

Programming

Voot had content from Colors TV, MTV, Nickelodeon, and other Viacom18-owned television channels. It also hosted Bollywood films for streaming.^[9] It had produced several 'Voot Originals' shows for streaming as well. In the children's segment, it worked on shows in Malayalam.^[10]

In March 2021, it was announced that Voot Select would add original programming from U.S. parent company Paramount Global's upcoming global streaming service Paramount+, as well as selected CBS and Showtime original series.^[11]

Original series

Title	Genre	Premiere	Cast(s)
Chinese Bhasad	Comedy	1 May 2016[12][13]
Soadies	Comedy drama	2016	Baba Sehgal, Anju Mahendru,[14] Raghu Ram, and Rajiv[15]
Sinskaari	Sex related web-chat Show	18 May 2016	Alok Nath[16]
Badman	Mockumentary	8 July 2016[14][17]	Gulshan Grover, Chunky Pandey
Shaadi Boys	Satirical comedy-drama	22 July 2016[18][19]	Aakash Ahuja
It's Not That Simple	Drama	6 October 2016[20][21]	Swara Bhaskar, Akshay Oberoi, Karan Veer Mehra, Vivan Bhatena
Untag	Comedy drama	1 January 2017[22]	Meiyang Chang, VJ Andy, Dipannita Sharma and Shiv Panditt
Yo Ke Hua Bro	Comedy	18 August 2017[23]	Aparshakti Khurana, Gaurav Pandey, Ridhima Pandit, Sumeet Vyas and Shamita Shetty
Stupid Man Smart Phone	Travel show	20 September 2017	Sumeet Vyas
Time Out	Drama	27 November 2017[24][25][26]	Tahir Raj Bhasin and Sarah-Jane Dias
Its Not That Simple 2	Drama	14 December 2018[27]	Swara Bhaskar, Akshay Oberoi, Karan Veer Mehra, Vivan Bhatena
Shortcuts	Anthology Thriller	8 February 2019
Fuh Se Fantasy	Anthology Romance	5 April 2019
Marzi	Psychological thriller	2 March 2020	Rajeev Khandelwal and Aahana Kumra[28]
Asur	Thriller	2 March 2020	Barun Sobti, Arshad Warsi, Anupriya Goenka, Ridhi Dogra, Sharib Hashmi, Amey Wagh[29]
The Raikar Case	Crime Thriller	9 April 2020	Ashwini Bhave, Atul Kulkarni, Kunal Karan Kapoor, Lalit Prabhakar, Neil Bhoopalam, Parul Gulati
Illegal - Justice, Out of Order	Political Thriller	12 May 2020	Neha Sharma, Akshay Oberoi, Deepak Tijori, Piyush Mishra
The Gone Game	Crime Thriller	20 August 2020	Sanjay Kapoor, Shweta Tripathi, Arjun Mathur, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Dibyendu Bhattacharya
Crackdown	Action Thriller	23 September 2020	Saqib Saleem, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Rajesh Tailang
Candy	Thriller	September 2021	Richa Chadda, Ronit Roy, Manu Rishi, Gopal Datt[29]
Bigg Boss OTT	Reality Show	August 2021	Karan Johar, Divya Agarwal, Nishant Bhat, Pratik Sehajpal, Shamita Shetty
Ranjish Hi Sahi	Drama	January 2022	Tahir Raj Bhasin, Amala Paul, Amrita Puri
Apharan 2 - Sabka Katega Dobara	Action Drama	18 March 2022	Arunoday Singh, Mahie Gill, Monica Chaudhary, Nidhi Singh, Varun Badola
London Files	Crime, Thriller	21 April 2022	Arjun Rampal, Purab Kohli, Gopal Dutt, Sapna Pabbi, Medha Rana, Warren Palmer
Baked - The Bad Trip	Comedy	2 May 2022	Pranay Manchanda, Shantanu Anam, Manik Papneja, Kriti Vij
Aadha Ishq	Romantic, Thriller	12 May 2022	Gaurav Arora, Aamna Sharif, Kunaal Roy Kapur, Pratibha Ranta
Code M Season 2	Crime, Thriller	9 June 2022	Jennifer Winget, Tanuj Virwani
Cyber Vaar	Crime, Thriller	10 June 2022	Mohit Malik, Sanaya Irani
The Great Weddings of Munnes	Comedy Drama	4 August 2022	Abhishek Banerjee, Barkha Singh, Paresh Ganatra, Sunita Rajwar, Aakash Dabhade

See also

• Paramount+
• Max
• Peacock
• List of streaming media services
• Video on demand

References

1. "Viacom18 launches video-on-demand platform Voot – The Economic Times". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
2. "Viacom18 launches Voot Select, a subscription-based video streaming service". businessline. 4 March 2020. Archived from the original on 5 March 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
3. Ramachandran, Naman (27 April 2022). "James Murdoch's Bodhi Tree, Reliance, Viacom18 Strike $2 Billion Deal to Create Giant Indian TV and Streaming Company". Variety. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
4. "Bodhi Tree-Viacom18 deal: Why the new deal points towards Reliance's aggressive push in broadcasting business". Business Today. 17 April 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
5. "CCI approves merger of Jio Cinema OTT platform with Viacom18". Business Today. 22 September 2022. Archived from the original on 13 November 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
6. Laghate, Gaurav (6 October 2022). "Viacom18 to shift sports content to JioCinema". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
7. Jha, Lata (9 August 2023). "Voot folds into JioCinema; users now free to migrate". mint. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
8. "Viacom18 completes merger of JioCinema and Voot OTT platforms, majority subscribers transitioned". BusinessLine. 15 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
9. "Viacom18 launches video-on-demand platform Voot". Money Control. 29 March 2016. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
10. Bansal, Shuchi (11 October 2017). "Digital platforms mainstream regional content". Live Mint. Archived from the original on 18 April 2021. Retrieved 18 April 2021.
11. "Paramount Plus Content Finds Home on India's Voot Select (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. 11 March 2021. Archived from the original on 17 March 2022. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
12. "TV writer makes directorial, web debut with 'Chinese Bhasad' – Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
13. "Chinese Bhasad". Voot. Archived from the original on 27 June 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
14. "Ready for Badman and Soadies? – Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
15. "Soadies". Voot. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
16. "Sanskari 'Babuji' goes 'Sins-kaari': Alok Nath to discuss sex online". Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
17. "Badman". Voot. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
18. "Web series Shaadi Boys a satirical take on extravagance in Indian weddings, say writers". The Indian Express. 24 July 2016. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
19. "Shaadi Boys". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
20. "VOOT launches its sixth original web-series". www.afaqs.com. 6 October 2016. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
21. Gaekwad, Manish. "Swara Bhaskar glams up for web series 'It's Not That Simple'". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
22. "Life is all about untag-ging yourself!". Times of India. 8 January 2017. Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
23. "Aparshakti Khurana relates to his character in the new web series Yo Ke Hua Bro". The Indian Express. 30 August 2017. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
24. "Voot's new original 'Time Out' out on November 28". Exchang4media. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
25. Khateeb, Almas (3 January 2018). "'Time out' Review: The Unrealistically Realistic Life in a Metro". TheQuint. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
26. "Time Out on Voot". Voot. Archived from the original on 3 April 2022. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
27. Scroll Staff (5 December 2018). "'It's Not That Simple' season 2: Swara Bhasker is back to questioning gender bias". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 19 April 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
28. "Marzi first impression: An engaging thriller owned by Aahana Kumra and Rajeev Khandelwal". The Indian Express. 6 March 2020. Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
29. "All You Need to Know About Voot Select: Price, Originals, Exclusives". NDTV Gadgets 360. 3 March 2020. Archived from the original on 7 March 2020. Retrieved 6 March 2020.