Hoichoi booming in Bangladeshi market

Kolkata-based video streaming site - Hoichoi - has a growing number of subscribers from Bangladesh. Since February, 30,000 viewers have subscribed the streaming site from Bangladesh and the numbers keep increasing gradually. 

Hoichoi started its journey in September 2017 as a sister-concern of Kolkata's renowned media house - Shree Venkatesh Films Entertainment Ltd. Focusing on entertainment, they have been uploading various video content and applications since then.

Viewers of Bangladesh could only avail subscription using international credit cards at the beginning. The situation eventually changed as the company expanded by penetrating the local market with Hoichoi Technology Bangladesh Limited.

Sakib R Khan is serving as the country head of Hoichoi Bangladesh. The streaming service commenced Bangladeshi content creation; an initiative taken by the country head. He said, "Hoichoi aims to spread entertainment in Bengali language throughout Bengali speaking people all over the world. A separate office has been set up here to abide by the rules and regulations of the government of Bangladesh. We are working on collaborating with Bangladeshi producers and directors to create suitable content for the country."

In regards to the increasing number of subscribers in Bangladesh, Sakib said, "Before we started running our office here, many users would subscribe using international credit cards. As the doors to local registration are open now, everyone can use any means of transactions and subscribe to Hoichoi. This is why Bangladeshi viewers grew interested in our site."

He added, "Using any sort of digital transaction method, you can subscribe to Hoichoi for only Tk499 with a year-long validity. Due to this, we got around 21,000 subscribers. Besides, in agreement with Meena Bazaar, Hoichoi Bangladesh has made arrangements for offline subscriptions too. Three-months and twelve-months subscription cards can be availed from all 17 outlets of Meena Bazaar. Alongside, subscription cards are also being given as gift cards upon making specific purchases at Gadgets&Gears. Hoichoi Bangladesh sold a large number of cards through these two accords. Altogether, Hoichoi Bangladesh has a total of 22,000 subscribers so far."

Referring to offline subscription, Sakib said, "Many do not want to share their information online. For this reason, the subscription card has been arranged. Meanwhile, most of the Bangladeshi and Kolkata's content can be enjoyed by subscribing to Hoichoi."

Meanwhile, two video contents have been uploaded from Bangladesh till now. "Dhaka Metro" directed by Amitabh Reza Chowdhury where Aupee Karim played the lead role. And a series called "Honey Money" was released on Eid. It is now recognized as a hit content created by Hoichoi.

Sakib is very optimistic about the subscription boom of Hoichoi. "From the beginning, we believed that the audience will not grow in a jiffy because everyone is not accustomed to spending money on video streaming sites. So we did not expect millions and millions of subscribers," he said.

Regarding the content creators of the country, Sakib said, "There are many talented producers, directors, and writers in our country. We want to work with them. We value a good story more than the performers. That is how we will work in the future."