Former BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover is making a comeback, albeit in a different avatar - a reality television host.
Grover will be hosting a reality television series called Rise and Fall on Amazon's free ad-supported video streaming service Amazon MX Player.
The show, an Indian adaptation of the eponymous British reality television series, will feature contestants from all sections of society living in a skyscraper, competing for a cash prize. The players will be divided into two groups: Rulers and Workers.
Over the course of the show, they will aim to become rulers or risk being eliminated. The streaming platform is yet to disclose the exact launch date for the show, which will be produced by Banijay Asia.
This show comes after Grover's stint as a judge on the first season of the popular reality television show Shark Tank India that aired between December 2021-February 2022.
100 shows in 2025
Rise and Fall is part of Amazon MX Player's content slate of over 100 new shows for the year 2025. It marks the service's first lineup since Amazon merged two ad-supported streaming services - Amazon miniTV and MX Player - into a single entity called Amazon MX Player in October 2024 to consolidate its presence in India's increasingly competitive video-streaming market.
Amazon had acquired certain assets of MX Player, including its apps and select content from its library in June 2024. The combined service has over 250 million unique users in India.
Amogh Dusad, Head of Content at MX Player unveiled the service's lineup, which includes 40 new Hindi originals and returning seasons of prominent shows, at the company's event StreamNext in Mumbai on January 30.
Other shows in the lineup include Bobby Deol-starrer Aashram 3, Suniel Shetty and Jackie Shroff-starrer Hunter 2, and the second season of the dance reality show Hip Hop India featuring Remo D’Souza and Malaika Arora.
The Titan Story, which chronicles the journey of Titan from its conceptualisation to becoming an enduring homegrown brand; and Bhay, which centers around an Indian paranormal investigator are also part of the lineup.
“There is no other streaming service in India that offers such a massive selection of content for free,” said Karan Bedi, Head of Amazon MX Player.
“Amazon MX Player is uniquely positioned to drive the shift from linear television to video streaming, its reach is already at par with some of the leading general entertainment channels in India” he said.
Apart from originals and reality shows, the service also offers dubbed versions of international shows including K-dramas, Mandarin, and Turkish shows. These series will be dubbed in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu languages.
The service is available to consumers through MX Player's mobile apps, Amazon.in Shopping app, Prime Video, Fire TV, and Connected television apps.
Rising competition
Apart from Amazon MX Player, Amazon also operates Prime Video, a subscription-based streaming service which is bundled with its Prime offering.
The company will however face stiff competition from India's largest media conglomerate JioStar, which houses two of the country's top streaming services - JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. Other players in this space include Netflix, Zee5, Sony LIV, and Apple TV+.
Amazon MX Player is also expected to play a key part in the online retail giant’s strategy to boost its digital advertising revenue in the country.
During the event, the service stated that it showcased a suite of new interactive and shoppable ad formats to marketers. This includes in-stream shoppable ads where viewers can browse a product during ad breaks and immersive formats where brands can effectively communicate their message.
“Our audiences are highly engaged viewers and we have a strong understanding of their shopping patterns, an advantage that only Amazon MX Player can provide" said Aruna Daryanani, Director, Amazon MX Player.
"Even brands that don’t sell products or services on Amazon can connect to customers through this premium world of content and by leveraging our first-party shopping signals, to enhance their campaign effectiveness” she said.
The company had previously stated that marquee brands such as Mamaearth, Realme, Nissan, Lenovo, and WhatsApp have either sponsored shows on miniTV, integrated their brands within shows, or purchased advertising inventory.
Amazon MX Player's deep penetration in the country’s smaller cities and towns is also expected to help with Amazon’s rural push at a time when it is involved in an intensifying e-commerce battle against Walmart-owned Flipkart and SoftBank-backed Meesho.
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