Alibaba Mobile Business Group company today launched a new UC browser which is basically update to the existing UC Browser. The company also announced its partnership with Colors TV. Bringing in the news feeds from UC News and adding more customization were the highlights of this new update. News feeds will be presented according to the user input and user behavior. Partnering up with Colors TV for few TV shows for digitizing entertainment content on mobile was the Alibaba Mobile Business Group’s motive. This will help UC browser to become the tool provide more content options to users.
About UCWeb
UCWeb, a well known mobile browser is not just a browser now, but a mobile media asset which offers browsing tools and news feeds. There are over 420 Million Monthly Active Users who access UCWeb’s offerings. With such numbers, UC Browser has become No.1 independent browser in India and Indonesia. It is also in world’s top 3 mobile browsers, as stated by StatCounter.
Jack Huang, President, Overseas Business, Alibaba Mobile Business Group said,
Our new milestone of reaching 420 million MAUs has placed us at par with Twitter and Instagram. Our vision in the coming years after success in India, is to serve half the population of the planet. Our strategy is to focus on “Glocalization” – which is going global by offering localized solutions in each market. We believe this strategy will lead us to a new digital era, which is GUF – Google, UCWeb and Facebook.
Features of the New UC Browser
With over 80 million monthly active users and a market share of almost 50%, UC Browser is also India’s favourite mobile browser. UC Browser’s features brought faster internet access to millions of people till now, but now it is more intelligent and now it offers right content to right user, by fetching direct news feeds from UC News app. User just has to select topics of his choice and the browser intelligently provides related content. Content can be shared and is available in English, Hindi and soon Tamil as well.
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- Homepage of New UC Browser
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- Share feature in New UC Browser
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- UC News in New UC Browser
With cleaner UI and less clunky homepage, one swipe can get user from Browser to News section. Built in night mode of the browser helps in smooth reading experience during night times.
Focus on Entertainment
According to content consumption trends on UC Browser’s base of 80 Million MAUs in India, 8 out of the top 10 English keywords search are related to entertainment. The same number falls to 3 for Hindi keywords. In News related content, 7 out of the top 10 Hindi news consumed is related to entertainment. Amongst Indian states, Maharashtra is, by far, the biggest consumption market in entertainment with over 42% of the daily content consumption. Mumbai justifies as the tag of the Entertainment Capital of India as it ranks ahead of other metros, followed by Delhi and Kolkata.
Partnership with Colors TV
As pioneers in the mobile Internet revolution of India, UCWeb aims to be at the centre of this emerging trend and has collaborated with Colors TV – India’s leading Entertainment TV Channel. The vision is to offer Digitized Entertainment and utilise strengths of volume and power of the browser in content aggregation and to provide quality content to as many users as possible.
The strategic partnership is being built around 4 marquee shows of Colors; Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, 24, Big Boss and Comedy Nights Live. As part of the collaboration, UCWeb will create multiple engagement platforms around these shows for the users of New UC Browser, 9Apps and UC News.
After being on-boarded as the “Trending Partner” for Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, fans will have access to an exclusive fan zone on the homepage of UC Browser offering behind the scenes content. The host of the show, Manish Paul will offer his whacky take on the show in the form of an exclusive blog. While the viewers of 24 can have the entire experience replicated for them on a game which will be first launched on 9Apps (UCWeb’s marketplace for mobile apps). The prime attraction is however, Big Boss season 10, where the users of UC Browser will have exclusive access to the footage behind the scenes; they can effectively choose the participants of the show, and much more.
Talking about the partnership, Robert Bu, General Manager, UCWeb India said,
Our partnership with Colors is unique in its own way. The partnership seeks to build long term engagement for the content on
Colors TV through multiple platforms such as blogs and behind the scenes videos, ensuring stickiness and long term engagement for these properties. Digital content consumption is on the rise and the challenge for content creators is to be able to customize, curate and present diverse content to users to strengthen their engagement. The solution that UC Browser is offering is “Digitized Entertainment.
Speaking about the collaboration, Raj Nayak, CEO of Colors TV said,
Alliances are not just for visibility. Sometimes it is about ensuring the best user experience for consumers and enhanced viewer experience. At COLORS, we have always believed in conducting business that meets our consumer’s needs. Today, our viewers are mostly mobile owing to which we can draw synergies with a popular mobile browser like UC Browser, thereby making our content appealing to audiences regardless of the type of screen they’re using. With content on-the-go becoming a lucrative option for today’s viewers, associating with a brand like UC Browser, for shows including Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa, Bigg Boss 10, Comedy Nights Live and 24: Season 2, allows us to explore different promotional strategies that make it a beneficial proposition for us.
Overall, New UC Browser is evolving according to the user requirements, which is a good thing, for both users and UC Browser, as this new update to the browser will surely attract more users because of its News and Entertainment features.
