Yahoo! India launches free online video service

New Delhi: Internet major Yahoo India today announced the launch of a free online service, ‘Yahoo! Video’, in partnership with TV channels and film production houses. “Online video consumption is growing at a rapid pace. However, what the Indian market lacked was a safe and piracy-free destination delivering high quality and strictly original content,” Yahoo! India Managing Director Arun Tadanki said in a statement. [caption id=“attachment_137201” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Screen grab from Yahoo! Video site.”]  [/caption] Yahoo video will provide original content across multiple genres such as news, entertainment, lifestyle and movies from 35 content producers which include NDTV, Star TV, Shemaroo, Headlines Today, PVR Pictures and Ultra. According to a recent ComScore report, over 30 million unique users in India watch online videos every month and on an average, each user watches about 58 videos a month. The move follows Yahoo India’s launch of Movieplex, which provides users licensed full-length movies for free. “NDTV doesn’t believe in walled gardens in the rapidly-expanding digital space. Early diagnosis has shown that Yahoo! does not cannibalise our business. It provides an additional audience and a new video platform that we believe users will enjoy,” said NDTV Convergence Deputy CEO and Managing Editor Suparna Singh said in the statement. PTI