Emerging markets to help Vuclip reach 500 mn users: CEO

Helped by growing number of users in developed and emerging markets, mobile video streaming network Vuclip expects its userbase to expand to 500 million over the next few years.

The California-based firm -- that claims to be the world's largest independent mobile video and media company -- currently has 120 million users globally, including 20 million in India.

"As consumer interest for mobile videos continues to see rise exponentially, we expect more innovative concepts will be introduced by telecom operators, not just in India, but also in other geographies, like Telkomsel in Indonesia and AIS in Thailand," Vuclip founder and CEO Nickhil Jakatdar told PTI.

The company had about 40 million users as of January last year, which rose to 120 million this year, he added.

Jakatdar, however did not specify the time period for the company's target to reach 500 million users.

Concepts like Airtel's Re 1 store, which introduced users to mobile videos in a very simple and absolutely friction-free manner, is the way ahead and the firm will try to cash in on such strategies, Jakatdar said.

"That's where Vuclip comes into play. We are a strategic partner to telecom companies, not just in India but also in other emerging markets like South East Asia and Middle East and making them more relevant by powering their mobile video store," he added.

The company has so far raised Raised USD 40 million in funding from SingTel Innov8, NEA and Jafco Ventures.

Quoting from Cisco's Visual Networking Index, Jakatdar said mobile devices will consume three times more data than the entire desktop Internet by 2017 and two-thirds of the world's mobile data traffic will be video.

While video is most attractive in terms of getting the subscribers moving to data, the congested networks and device variability often kills user experience with endless buffering and crazy loading times, he said.

Vuclip takes away unnecessary buffering and with its patent pending technology the firm helps to kill initial loading and frequent buffering, Jakatdar added.

"Our users enjoy over 2 billion minutes of videos each month via a unique, unbuffered viewing experience regardless of network variability and on all devices from feature phones to smartphones," he said.

Vuclip has also released an update to its popular Android app to provide a highly personalised mobile video viewing experience through a new sophisticated recommendation engine and exciting social features.

The app also offers an offline viewing feature to users seeking to view high quality videos at their leisure.

Besides, it has also partnered with entertainment company Graphic India to bring popular film Sholay's legendary villain Gabbar Singh's backstory to mobile through animated comics.