Mumbai: AirAsia India organised an exclusive premiere of TVF Pitchers: Season 2 for its recently launched in-flight experience hub, ‘AirFlix,’ powered by Sugarbox and OTT partner Zee5.
To mark the occasion, the director and cast of the cult series TVF Pitchers [S2] attended the in-flight premiere on i5-784 from Delhi to Bengaluru on 22 December. The upcoming season of TVF Pitchers on Zee5 features an ensemble cast and crew of Naveen Kasturia, Abhay Mahajan, and Arunabh Kumar, directed by Vaibhav Bundhoo.
This strategic partnership with Zee5 enables AirFlix to offer a curated slate of content featuring more than 6,000 hours of high-resolution content, enabling access to more than 1,000 international and Indian movies, short films, and 1,500+ episodes of web series for an enhanced flying experience. The alliance makes Zee5 the first-ever OTT platform to be available for passengers onboard, where users can stream lag-free content. Powered by Sugarbox, with AirFlix, flyers can also place in-flight orders for food and beverages, as well as shop curated e-commerce brands like Boat, Man Matters, Arata, and more.
"We are thrilled to organise a first-of-its-kind grand premiere 36,000 feet in the sky, narrowcasting the entire season of the cult show TVF Pitchers on our new in-flight experience hub AirFlix, along with the director and cast of the show. It’s been a pleasure collaborating with our technology partner Sugarbox and OTT platform Zee5, to co-create this unique experience," said AirAsia India chief marketing officer Siddhartha Butalia. "We are always looking for innovative ways to enhance the in-flight experience. It’s a delight to bring exclusive experiences like this to life in the air with like-minded partners."
Commenting on the new initiative, Zee5 India chief business officer Manish Kalra said, "Zee5 is happy to bring this industry-first initiative of making OTT content accessible to flyers for an enhanced flying experience. As a consumer-first brand, Zee5 has kept audience demands at the centre of its business strategy. With this move, flyers can now enjoy Zee5 content mid-air as part of their in-flight entertainment exposure. We are thankful to our partners AirAsia India and Sugarbox for this strategic collaboration, which has enabled increased accessibility to entertainment choices and gone beyond innovation for enhanced consumer experiences. We, at Zee5, will continue to leverage our consumer-first strategy to innovate and invest in making content accessible to a wider audience base across touchpoints."
Sugarbox co-founder & CEO Rohit Paranjpe expressed, "AirFlix is a first-of-its kind initiative globally, where we are bringing the power of the cloud to aircrafts. Using this technology, we have enabled Zee5 to be the first OTT app available for flyers in-air, without internet connectivity, and to create unique experiences like the premiere of TVF Pitchers S2. This convergence enables ‘AirFlix’ to offer many firsts for the tech-toting passengers today through contextual, hyperlocal services to transform the flying experience."
The airline remains committed to driving operational excellence and an enhanced guest experience with pioneering digital and marketing initiatives like cloud-tech powered in-flight experience hub AirFlix, its award-winning website and mobile app, AI-powered conversational chatbot Tia, real-time internal aviation app RedSmart, integration with innovative service providers to enable products like FlyPorter baggage delivery services, and seamless Single-Sign, profile management, and personalisation built on the Tata NeuPass loyalty program.
