Now, Airtel ventures into video with free 'Wynk Tube' service
What's the story
In a bid to match the likes of leading streaming platforms, specifically YouTube Music and Gaana, Bharti Airtel has ventured into video content. The telecom giant has launched a dedicated platform called 'Wynk Tube' to let smartphone users explore music videos and songs. The service has been launched for Android and will be completely free for Airtel customers. Here are the details.
App details
Wynk Tube with regional music videos
Wynk Tube comes as an extension of Wynk Music and promises music videos in Hindi, Punjabi, and Bhojpuri as of now. The app weighs under 7MB and is touted to be a seamless offering for low-end smartphones, even those with 1GB RAM. Its interface runs in Hindi and English, but Airtel has promised support for 12 regional languages, including Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu.
Working
AI-powered music recommendations
Wynk Tube offers music videos on the basis of the artists selected by the user at the beginning. The engine personalizes the music recommendations for individual users using machine learning, boasts of a picture-in-picture mode and Google-powered voice search, much like Gaana. Notably, when you play a song, it starts as audio but you get an option to switch to video.
Information
Limited content at this stage
Wynk Tube offers music videos in three languages: Hindi, Bhojpuri, and Punjabi. There is no English music, which is a bummer for many. However, considering the demand for English music, Airtel could soon add content in English as well as other regional languages.
Added features
You can tweak streaming quality from settings
Wynk Tube lets you explore over 40 lakh music videos and songs from 'Home' and 'Trending' tabs and lists all music available on your phone with a third 'My Music' tab. You can download music just like on other apps for offline playback and can also configure the quality (HD, High, Medium, Low, or Auto) for streaming and downloading from settings.
Price
Subscription cost of Wynk Tube
Airtel is targeting next 200 million smartphone users with Wynk Tube, specifically those looking for digital entertainment in small towns and villages. As such, the company has made the service (with unlimited streaming downloads) free for Airtel customers. Meanwhile, those on other networks will get the first-month-trial free and would then have to pay Rs. 99/month, which is the same as YouTube Music.