Indian Railways to Launch Content Streaming App for Passengers

Indian Railways is all set to launch a content app exclusively for trains and stations and also generate more non-fare revenue from the ads shown on the app. Railway Board had delegated RailTel with providing the Content on Demand service to railway passengers. Now passengers can enjoy uninterrupted free/subscription-based entertainment service and buffer-free streaming across personal devices on the journey.

RailTel has carefully chosen Margo Network, a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment, as the Digital Entertainment Service Provider (DESP) for providing Content on Demand (CoD) Service on trains and railway stations. The project is expected to be completed in two years by 2020. The provision of content like shows, movies, educational programs will be provided in paid and unpaid formats.

RailTel will provide numerous preloaded multilingual content (Movies, Music Videos, General Entertainment, Lifestyle, etc.) through media servers installed in moving trains. It will also offer e-commerce/m-commerce services in different domains like booking travel (cab, bus, train) and make available various innovative solutions in the digital marketing domain.

A top RailTel official shared the content-on-demand service will not only improve overall passenger experience but at the same time, it will generate the non-fare revenue through multiple monetisation models.

The scope covers all 17 Zones of Indian Railways. The project will generate revenue from three main streams: advertisement based monetisation, +-subscription-based monetisation and e-commerce/partnership services.

This service will be rolled out in 8,731 trains, including suburban trains. Also, CoD will be available at all Wi-Fi enabled railway stations, which is more than 5,563 railway stations as on date.