Disney Star to adapt Pratilipi's stories as television shows for its TV, digital platforms

Pratilipi claims to currently have over 950,000 writers across 12 Indian languages who have written stories across multiple formats including short stories, series, audiobooks, and comics.

Indian language digital storytelling platform Pratilipi on September 12 struck a multi-series content deal with media and entertainment company Disney Star.

As part of this deal, Disney Star will develop multiple new fiction television shows adapted from stories available on Pratilipi for its television and digital platforms.

The company claimed that this will be the first time when a television series will be adapted and developed from an online self-publishing and audiobook platform. Pratilipi claims to currently have over 950,000 writers across 12 Indian languages who have written stories across multiple formats including short stories, series, audiobooks, and comics.

The Bengaluru-based startup, which counts South Korean gaming giant Krafton and Omidyar Network India among its investors, claims to currently have over 30 million monthly active readers. Users can read and publish stories across its Android and iOS apps.

"We have always believed in providing quality content in multiple formats to suit everyone's needs. Our collaboration with Disney Star is a testament to our continuous commitment to creating multi-format content for a wider audience," said Pratilipi co-founder Ranjeet Pratap Singh. He also said that the platform has over 10 million stories and they will be recreating some of its popular stories into televised series.

"Our collaboration with Pratilipi underscores our core belief in empowering writers, which is essential for creating compelling content on both TV and digital platforms. As the nation’s leading storyteller, we are excited to provide a platform for authentic storytelling emerging from fresh talent across the country," said Gaurav Bannerjee, Head Content, Disney+Hotstar and HSM (Hindi-speaking market) Entertainment Network.

Pratilipi's range of products includes Pratilipi FM which has 300,000 monthly active listeners who listen to a library of over 10,000 audiobooks, and podcasts and Pratilipi Comics, an online comic product in five Indian languages with thousands of digital comics and over 500,000 monthly active readers.

The startup acquired Mumbai-based IVM Podcasts to enter the podcast market in 2020 and purchased Westland Publications from Amazon to enter the traditional book publishing market in 2022. The company also bought self-publishing platform The Write Order in 2021 to expand its repository of original stories.

In March, Pratilipi signed an agreement with Amazon-owned Audible to adapt its literary bestsellers into audiobooks and audio shows that will be exclusively available on Audible for 18 months. The company said it will be producing and developing over 300 hours of content that will span a variety of genres such as romance, horror, thriller and mystery.