YUV - a South India based online video platform to launch soon

The platform promoted by Chennai-based Kavi Puvi Viamedia (KPV) will cater to Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada speaking audiences globally.

Kavi Puvi Viamedia, an initiative started this year in January by R. Lakshmipathy, a fourth generation entrepreneur from the Dinamalar group (that owns the third largest daily in Tamil Nadu), is all set to launch its online video platform YUV- to cater to the south Indian market.

YUV, poised to launch in early 2017, will target the underserved southern market in four languages - Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, and will also be accessible to the global diaspora with content that is produced in-house, and through partnerships.

R. Lakshmipathy (known within industry circles as Adarsh) heads the marketing and operations of the business. He is aided by Gautham Swaminathan, the CEO & CFO, and B.S. Radhakrishnan, the CCO (chief content and creative officer). While Gautham Swaminathan is a chartered accountant with decades of experience in international banking and financial services, B.S. Radhakrishnan, is a known TV and film personality, and the former CEO of Radaan Mediaworks, Truevision, Asia Digital and K Sera Sera Ltd.

The promoters explain that while the term YUV is derived from 'youth', it also stands for a technical term denoting brightness and colour, adding that, the Y component determines the brightness of the colour (referred to as luminance or luma), while the U and V components determine the colour itself (the chroma).

The management adds that YUV is geared to provide high quality user experience, delivered through cutting-edge technology and plans to use data to help creators figure out what audiences want to watch. Lakshmipathy comments, "We would like to be the premier online 'Come To' destination for global south Indian audiences", while Radhakrishnan adds that, "Growing this online initiative will nurture young and new-age talent by creating creators, directing directors and producing producers."

Besides YUV, the company also runs TSM (The Story Mill) - an original content production studio formed to create entertainment content, and "help brands engage with customers by being a part of the lives, dialogues and discussions that will resonate with its audiences."

Currently, TSM has been producing content since the last 18 months, and will soon clock 100 hours of original content comprising its first web-series 'LIVIN', which is aimed at the mobile-first markets in Tamil and Telugu languages. Apart from that, there are 6 more original web series that are in the pipeline for YUV. KPV's management says that the company understands the shrinking attention span and ad-shunning attitude of audiences, and strongly believes that on-line audiences today deserve fresh and new content, with little to no interruption.

Also, among KPV's committee of advisors are Kumar Ramanathan -who has held several leadership roles at Britannia, Pepsi, and was the chief marketing officer at Vodafone India; R. Ravichandran - who has over 27 years of experience in technology, and worked with Intel Corporation for more than two decades in multiple leadership roles and Karthik Subramaniam- a serial entrepreneur and currently the CEO of Purple Stream Convergence, which undertakes streaming services for leading TV networks across India.