Networkplay inks an exclusive partnership with IGI airport

Airport TV network IGIA TV will serve as an entertainment medium for the travellers during the captive stint spent waiting inside the terminal building.

Delhi International Airport (Private) Limited and Networkplay have entered into a long-term partnership to create a first-of-its-kind airport TV network at Terminal 3 (T3) of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA), Delhi. Commissioned in the year 2010, T3 is the world's eighth largest passenger terminal.

Called IGIA TV, this happens to be the first-of-its kind airport TV concept in India. Networkplay has been known to offer travel media solutions on the web with Online Travel Agent (OTA) ad-network offering. With IGIA TV, the company wants to expand its offerings and be a part of unique media touch-points to engage with the traveller. The company plans a soft-launch in May followed by a live phase by end-of-June.

"With IGIA TV, we plan to fulfil a much-needed void of captive entertainment and information search by the traveller at IGIA, Delhi. In recent times, airports have evolved from mere transit points for domestic and international travel to destinations providing complete entertainment and shopping opportunities to the passenger. Such concepts exist worldwide as in Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) and we are excited to partner with DIAL to bring this opportunity in India," states Ampreet Singh, CEO, Networkplay.

Singh says the idea of an airport TV is to create an exciting entertainment medium which the traveller can look forward to during his 10-45 minute captive stint, which he usually spends waiting at the boarding gates and other areas of the terminal building. The airport TV network covers over 125, 42-inch or more HD television screens located at ambient dwell opportunities within T3 near the boarding area, baggage reclaim area and at other captive locations.

It is a multi-year partnership with DIAL, wherein Networkplay will source content and monetise airport TV. This also includes creating a world-class HD media platform, the first in the country with a mix of HD-Ready/HD content. The content will be a mix of infotainment, leisure and brand content which engages the user.

Besides, Networkplay will also invest in exclusive content which includes sourcing, generating and producing content not just from its group companies but also several reputed content production houses.

Commenting on this partnership, Indana Prabhakara Rao, CEO, DIAL, says, "This is yet another innovation for Indian airports, and we are pleased to be associated with Networkplay. We believe this will significantly add to our passengers' delight, as we offer them unique and interactive content while they are at T3. This further highlights our commitment towards strategic partnerships, with the intent of continuously meeting and exceeding passenger expectations.''

Networkplay was acquired by Gruner + Jahr (G+J) India in early 2012 - one of the first acquisitions of an ad-network in India. Since then the company has expanded media offerings to offer multi-platform media solutions to customers. The concept of airport TV network, explains Singh, is fairly new across the world.

"We are eager to be a part of the airport advertising ecosystem in India and plan to create our own niche in the ever-burgeoning out of home market, expected to touch around Rs 2700 crore by the end of 2017. We will extend our travel solutions beyond web and mobile to offer an engaging platform to our advertisers. We have seen an increasing spurt in destination marketing opportunities in India and airport TV is a good fit to our group portfolio of travel media extending from print, web and now to video," Singh adds.