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QYOU Media launches gaming app Q GamesMela

QYOU Media India, the fast-growing creator-driven media company, announced today the launch of Q GamesMela, its first direct-to-consumer casual mobile gaming app.

The launch follows the closing of its acquisition of mobile game developer, Maxamtech Digital Ventures in January of 2023. Q GamesMela (MELA translates to “Carnival” in English) offers a variety of engaging casual mobile games and can be downloaded from the Google Play store for Android phone users. All games are free to the user and game players can win a variety of cash and sponsored product prizes by topping leaderboards that are regularly updated.

QYOU Media India acquired a controlling interest in Maxamtech Digital Ventures in early 2023 to facilitate a direct-to-consumer capability for casual mobile gaming for the QYOU business in India. The driving business strategy is to leverage the immediate reach of Q branded content offerings across broadcast TV, connected (Smart) TVs, and app-based platforms that collectively now reach approximately 125 million Indians each week. The gaming app will be initially promoted to this audience via a variety of marketing initiatives across the Q branded channels and content offerings. In addition, the company expects to create new ad sales programs on the app that will attract its vast universe of brand partnerships that now numbers over 100 advertisers across its various India business units.

The mobile gaming industry in India continues to experience massive growth with over 450 million casual mobile gamers today. Analysts expect that number to grow to 650 million by 2025.

QYOU Media Inc. CEO and co-founder Curt Marvis said, “We are thrilled that our first gaming product is hitting the market only three months after we closed our acquisition of Maxamtech. We remain confident that fans of Q-branded content offerings across India are perfectly suited to become customers of our gaming products. In addition, with recently developed data mining capabilities taking shape we look to truly begin to leverage our audience data and influencer marketing capabilities to maximise stickiness and overall revenue generation. We view today as the kick-off of an entirely new revenue vertical for our business in India.”

Maxamtech Digital Ventures founder Xerxes Mullan said, “This is exactly why we were so excited about joining the QYOU Media family. It provides a unique opportunity to get products to market quickly and with the ability to reach the right audience and build momentum. We have many more exciting plans going forward to grow the gaming business across a variety of user segments and business models. Q GamesMela is only the beginning!”

QYOU Media completes acquisition of mobile gaming enterprise Maxamtech Digital Ventures

QYOU Media has successfully completed its acquisition of a majority ownership stake in Maxamtech Digital Ventures, a six year old India based venture creating technology and games for the mobile gaming industry. QYOU Media has initially purchased a 51 per cent stake of the issued and outstanding shares in the Maxamtech business giving it majority control over the enterprise.The purchase price has not been disclosed but the parties have agreed on terms for purchase of the remaining 49 per cent based upon a multiple of EBITDA over the calendar years 2023, 2024 and 2025. The acquisition continues the recent push by QYOU Media and The Q India to leverage its large and growing audience reach to over 125 million young Indians weekly by ramping up its portfolio of direct-to-consumer products in 2023.

The mobile gaming business in India has experienced an unprecedented rise in recent years. KPMG has reported that there are 420 million online gamers in India, making it second only to China. This trajectory is being driven by the growing younger population that finds itself with more disposable income combined with a rapid rise in the use of smartphones. Revenue in the mobile gaming business is expected to reach over $5 billion USD in 2025, largely fueled by discovery and adoption of casual and free to play games, a specialty of Maxamtech’s Gaming 360 platform.

Maxamtech Digital Ventures co-founder Xerxes Mullan commented, “We have been conceptualizing and working with the team at Q India since the signing of the term sheet so we are hitting the ground running. There is such a massive opportunity for user growth and revenue generation in the mobile gaming space in India and we feel like the timing could not be better for us to harness the audience reach of the various Q distribution channels with our proven ability to generate sticky game play for casual mobile gamers. It is great to now be fully started and we expect to have products available in the market in Q1 2023″.

QYOU Media CEO and co-founder Curt Marvis, added, “As we continue to diversify the products we offer to our ever growing audience of young Indians, it was clear that casual mobile gaming was at the top of the list of needed products. We know that for brands and users alike, the growing attraction and engagement of mobile gaming is at the center of their universe. We are firm believers that the sky’s the limit to the extent we can leverage the synergies and growth opportunities in the Maxamtech business with our current channel and influencer driven capabilities.”

In addition to the closing of the Maxamtech acquisition, the Company also disclosed that further to the details of its press release dated 17November 2022, it paid a cash commission of $240,288 and issued an aggregate of 1,922,304 compensation options (each a “Compensation Option”) to Clarus Securities Inc., who acted as sole agent and bookrunner on behalf of a syndicate, in connection with the “best-efforts” public offering of units of the Company (each a “Unit”) that closed on 17November 2022. Each Compensation Option entitles the holder to acquire one Unit at an exercise price of $0.125 until 17November 2024. In connection with the Company’s concurrent private placement of 1,840,000 Units, it paid an aggregate of $7,500 and issued compensation options to acquire up to 60,000 Units as finder’s fees to a certain person who assisted the Company.

On 9January 2023, the Company issued 3,750,000 stock options at an exercise price of $0.125 and expiring 9January 2028 and 1,875,000 restricted share units under standard vesting terms as additional compensation to certain company executives and board members for services provided in 2022.

QYOU Media India launches its direct-to-consumer app, Q PLAY

In a sustained effort to expand its media business rapidly, QYOU Media India launched its first direct-to-consumer app, Q PLAY. Available to download on the Google Play store and directly on Smart TVs and mobile devices, the free app offers all five QYOU Media India channels and going forward will be the digital destination for the network’s upcoming content. The ad-supported download-and-watch app can be simply downloaded without any registration hassle.

“The launch of Q PLAY opens a myriad of new possibilities. It enables us to be independent in addition to relying upon third-party platforms for distribution. The launch of this app will further deepen our audience engagement as it tries to bridge the need gap for relatable and entertaining content. We are thrilled to launch Q PLAY into the market. While it will take us time to build and grow our user base, Q PLAY is the tip of the spear around our digital objective to create a growing one-on-one customer relationship around our brand,” said QYOU Media India COO Krishna Menon.

India’s Direct-To-Consumer (D2C) model has exploded in growth over the last several years. It is expected to grow exponentially and reach a value of $100 Billion by 2025. Much of this is being driven by the mass adoption of social media and the use of influencer marketing as direct conduits to young Indian consumers. QYOU Media India currently reaches over 125 million viewers weekly on Q branded content channels. The company has a goal of driving that number to 200 million in the next three to six months.

Q PLAY is designed to begin to leverage that audience scale to employ a direct relationship between the company and its user base. Q PLAY will additionally leverage both the large number of blue-chip advertiser brand relationships enjoyed by the company along with the recently announced data initiative to mine data from all sources of distribution, thus driving stronger monetisation via more targeted content and ad campaigns.

Q PLAY currently carries QYOU Media India’s five channels – The Q, Q Marathi, The Q Kahaniyan, The Q Comedistaan, and the most recently launched Q GAMEX. All channels feature content that is based upon QYOU Media India’s unique programming approach highlighting the best content from social media creators and digital media stars. With Q PLAY, unique, fresh, relatable, and exciting content will be found in one app, one destination, with many newer channels set to be added in the future.

QYOU Media India to launch 27×7 digital gaming channel, Q GAMEX, in September

Following the success of its recently launched digital channels, The Q Kahaniyan and The Q Comedistaan, QYOU Media India further gears up to announce the launch of Q GAMEX, a 24×7 gaming digital channel. Launching in September 2022, the channel aims to target young Indian gamers across connected TV and digital platforms.

With an aim to reach out to digitally savvy young Indian adults between the age group of 18-35 years, Q GAMEX will stream gameplay matches and battlegrounds while taking the viewers through some interesting insights on console/gaming equipment, unboxing experiences, tips, and tricks and much more. Banking on the burgeoning popularity surrounding online gaming, QYOU Media India, through Q GAMEX aims to expand its viewership base by providing brands and advertisers an opportunity to drive value. The launch of Q GAMEX for the connected TV audience is a part of a growing effort to capitalize on a business that is already experiencing tremendous growth worldwide and in India specifically.

Speaking on the announcement of its upcoming gaming digital channel, QYOU Media India CEO Krishna Menon said, “At QYOU Media India, our unique and socially connected content style is in alignment with what this audience is looking for. The Indian online gaming industry has steadily grown to become a leading market across the globe. With the launch of Q GAMEX, we aim to cater to the young gaming enthusiasts and become a leading provider of multi-genre channels to audiences who are rapidly adopting connected TV as a primary destination for entertainment purposes. We are delighted to add Q GAMEX to our existing portfolio of brands and look forward to developing Q GAMEX as a pioneer in gaming content across digital platforms.”

According to an analysis by KPMG, India is set to become one of the world’s leading markets in the gaming industry where it is expected to cross 450 million online gamers in 2023, second only to China. Growing steadily over the last five years, it is expected to treble in value and reach an overall value of $5 billion by 2025 driven by a rapidly growing younger population with higher disposable income. With the total number of online gamers growing from 360 million in 2020 to 390 million in 2021, analysts expect steep growth in the sector.

Leveraging content from a wide array of top social influencers and digital content creators, QYOU Media India so far has launched The Q, Q Marathi, The Q Kahaniyan and The Q Comedistaan. The upcoming digital channel Q GAMEX targets the rapidly growing community of online and mobile gamers and will mark the launch of QYOU Media India’s fifth channel.

ATF 2018 announces first batch of keynotes and speakers

The Asia TV Forum and Market (ATF) announced the first batch of keynotes to appear at the ATF Leaders’ Summit 2018 that will take place on 4 December 2018. Themed ‘The Next New’, the day promises to deliver forward-looking strategies and feature prominent players in the industry.

ATF and ScreenSingapore group project director Yeow Hui Leng said, “As Asia’s leading media and entertainment content conference, ATF is dedicated to gathering the global industry’s brightest for knowledge exchange and vision-casting. With well-established veterans addressing ‘The Next New’, attendees of the ATF Leaders’ Summit will certainly gain insight into solutions for creative challenges and discover ingenious business models.”

Among the Keynotes is QYOU CEO and Co-founder Curt Marvis. With programming distributed on six continents to millions of customers, QYOU is expanding global distribution of short form video.

Marvis previously served as Lionsgate’s president of digital media, where he helped guide the company’s broad spectrum of digital distribution agreements. In addition, while at Lionsgate, Marvis successfully launched original content channels, series and games in partnership with YouTube, Hulu and Machinima.

QYOU India media industry advisor and non-executive chairman Andy Kaplan will also be taking to the stage during the Summit. Kaplan is the former president of Sony Pictures Television Networks. He led Sony’s global television networks and related investments, with over 180 channel feeds reaching nearly two billion subscribers.

QYOU Media is growing its operations in India following the successful launch of QYOU India on Tata Sky, by adding a block of new content partnerships. Rebranding as Q India, the company’s localised service also launched on Jio TV, India’s fastest growing mobile service with 168 million subscribers.

The rise of India has put the sub-continent as a priority on many players’ list, including ATF which curated its inaugural kids’ programming Summit in Hyderabad on 31 August 2018.

This year’s ATF Leaders’ Summit will also see stage presence of Turner Asia Pacific president Ricky Ow, Twitter (APAC) head of sports partnerships Aneesh Madan, GBH Insights chief strategy officer and head of technology research Daniel Ives, HOOQ CEO Peter Bithos, and Philippines’ TV5 president and CEO Vincent Reyes.

ATF’s Content Connection Day (5 December), as well as its Production Day (6 December) will also see K7 Media managing director Keri Lewis Brown, take to stage for the session where fresh content from Asia is revealed.