dittoTV review: Live TV streaming for the serious viewer

If you haven’t heard of OTT (Over-the-Top content), you clearly have to play catch up. In a market like India where audiences are getting younger by the day, ‘direct to device’ streamed content is clearly the next big thing. With numbers for online viewership doubling between 2011 and 2013, it might not be naïve to call it a wave of the present. It’s a no brainer, today’s audience (not just the 20-somethings) have unchained themselves from large TVs that are viewed as disruptive. Why wait till I get home to watch catch up TV when I can catch my favourite show live on my large screen mobile phone or Tablet in the backseat of my car or on a long bus ride back home.

OTT is steadily eating into the viewership time on DTH devices at least in India’s bigger cities. The country’s ever improving mobile data networks are playing their part too. Zee’s dittoTV is among the key players in the OTT segment and is betting big on this wave. I spent a few days with this App on my mobile device and tablet. It wasn’t just to evaluate dittoTV but also to take a peek into where OTT might be heading this decade.

First things first, I’m already sold on OTT. I use my large screen TV mainly to watch movies or binge watch my favourite TV shows like Game of Thrones. There are weeks when I forget (or remember to forget) to renew my DTH subscription and usually it’s a live Sporting event that spurs me to renew my subscription. Yes, I have no doubt that stuff looks prettier on a 46-inch screen than my Tab, but I believe that’s it the price I have to pay to consume content when and where I choose to. My first brush with OTT was Hotstar; which was quite handy to catch the India vs Australia game World T20 game (‘Staggered’ live) at a bar in Bangkok. But the five-minute delay meant that I found myself keeping tabs on the game on Cricinfo especially towards the exciting finish.

dittoTV gets up and running without a fuss (I tried the iOS version; it’s also available on Android and Windows Phone). There’s a choice of subscription options including a Rs 10/day trial pack if you want to give this App a go on a weekend. The one year subscription – at Rs 1299, is way cheaper than my Annual DTH package (about Rs 7000 if I renew it without a break). You can install the App on multiple devices but you can only stream content on one device at any given time.

The User Interface finds a balance between clean and pretty. Easy to navigate with four ‘easy to go’ tabs – Live TV, TV shows, Movies and Videos. I like how the Live TV stream integrates with the TV Guide and how each live TV channel comes with fairly detailed information about what’s on air. The TV Show menu bunches up all content from your favourite shows (in multiple Indian languages) in case you are a binge watcher. The movie library is certainly not exhaustive – one of my gripes with Netflix, you certainly won’t find every movie under the sun and yet you will find enough options for those packets of microwaveable pop corn you invested in for the weekend.

There’s a choice of over 100 channels and if you thought (like I did) that it’s all Zee network channels, think again. One of the key strengths of the content offering is the presence of major news channels – from Times Now to BBC to Aaj Tak, that beam live content. Perfect if you want to catch up on your daily diet of TV news on your way to or back from work. The content covers key bases and yet the absence of some Sports channels and regional channels might not work for some users.

Comparisons with other OTT options like Hotstar are inevitable especially given that Hotstar is currently free. Hotstar is good for first timers testing the OTT platform but dittoTV is geared for those heavy users who have taken the plunge – they might continue to catch live TV via a conventional DTH operator too. It is one of the best OTT platforms out there on the Content and UI fronts. Apps on the OTT platform like dittoTV don’t just look set to change the way Indians consume content but deliver serious value to the Indian diaspora abroad and Indians who travel frequently (ask me). It’s early days yet, but the OTT platform has taken faster strides than previous entertainment distribution platforms. It’s just a matter of time before you take the plunge, in case you already haven’t!

Download dittoTV for Android, for iOS and for Windows Phone.

What we liked: User interface, large selection of live channels and archived content

What we didn’t: Movie content is not exhaustive, few Sports channels missing in the mix.

Price: Subscription options range from Rs 10/day to 1299/year. The monthly subscription pack costs Rs 150.

Full disclosure: dittoTV is a platform owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEE)