Content consumption and creation are an inescapable part of modern culture. Over the years, the content consumption behavior of consumers has witnessed an exponential change as the homebound work and leisure economy has led to a significant rise in consumption by the populace. Users today have the option to set up state of the art home-entertainment systems that offer cinema like experience in their living rooms.

In 2010, Dolby started to work with the Indian television industry with the aim to revolutionize the auditory and visual experience of the consumers. Its initial partnership with Star TV with the breakthrough ‘Asli HD Campaign’ in 2011 resulted in increased brand visibility on air, in print and retail and made Dolby a household name.

Since then, Dolby has been committed to create breakthrough experiences for billions of people through a collaborative ecosystem spanning content creators, businesses, and consumers. In the Indian context, we have a large presence both on the cinema side and on the consumer entertainment side in HD broadcast, live sports and now with streaming services and content. Dolby’s technology is very widely adopted across devices, including televisions, set-top-boxes, DMAs, A/V Receivers, Home Theatres, Soundbars, Mobile Phones, Tablets, PCs etc.

At Dolby we consciously and continuously work on making the experience seamless across all screens. Right from the introduction of HD in India, we have been deeply engaged in and working with the television and broadcast ecosystem. Our work over the last several years has resulted in Dolby Audio being used in over 70+ HD channels in the market.

Our goal is to offer experiences that bring entertainment to life be it at the cinemas, at home in the living room or on the go on mobile. The audiences of today are seeking memorable and spectacular experiences. So, the need of the hour is to offer an immersive experience, which stays with them long after they have turned the screen off. We have a strong presence in the cinema business and on the consumer entertainment side, through our audio technology – Dolby Atmos and Dolby Audio and more recently with our video technology – Dolby Vision.

With the pandemic as social distancing became the norm, it is only natural that our interaction with content—with movies, music, and games — skyrocketed. The work it takes to bring those stories to life, to help millions of people experience them just the way their creators intended has never felt more important and increased manifold in volume.

At Dolby, that’s what our work comes down to. Beyond the codecs and compression, our job is to bring fans closer to the content that moves them, to deepen the connection between creators and their audiences.

We have people working across Dolby Laboratories who are helping to revolutionize the science of sight and sound to make that kind of connection happen – in the living rooms, on our PCs and mobile devices, through sports and movies, music and gaming. Our focus has always been to provide that sense of trust to our partners and help them in whatever way we can to solve the challenges they face in providing an immersive entertainment experience to the consumers.

Over the course of time, the entertainment industry has adapted to keep up with this homebound economy by bringing in content and technologies to address the growing dependency on online audio video content consumption, the evolution of virtual music concerts, podcasts, audio rooms, conferencing, etc.

Today, consumers are willing to invest in premium quality content and in devices and are being able to have an enhanced audio and visual experience.

Dolby partnered with Earshot – a podcast streaming service application to enable content in Dolby Atmos for their consumers. This allows listeners to receive an immersive audio experience in multiple Indian languages including Hindi, Bengali, Assamese, and Bhojpuri in addition to English on mobile phones. Furthermore, we have worked with Disney + Hotstar, Amazon Prime and Netflix to ensure Dolby enabled content reaches the consumer for an enhanced experience.

With a singular purpose of transforming next-gen audiovisual experiences, Dolby delivers an end-to-end solution. We work with content creators by providing them with the tools to create content using Dolby technology.

On the delivery side, we partner with services and provide them with the tools that enable a spectacular experience, be it at the cinemas, at home in the living room or on the go. We also work on the playback side with OEMs powering their devices (like TVs, STBs, mobile, etc.) with our audio and video technologies, thereby providing a seamless end-user experience.

Today, a consumer can find both TVs with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and sound bars with Dolby Atmos at various price points that suit every pocket. Our solutions have also expanded to more device categories — like PCs, tablets, smartphones, and smart speakers. We want to continue scaling Dolby enabled movies, episodic content, and live sports. This year, we have added more streaming partners and have seen creatives use Dolby technology beyond blockbuster action movies and across different genres like documentaries, comedies, and cooking shows.

Our focus is also towards prioritizing music, gaming, and live sports wherein our technologies like Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos will deliver high value to artists, gamers, and audiences alike.

At Dolby, we are dedicated and always scouting for new ways to ensure seamless and effective delivery of quality audio solutions, which will enable transformative experiences for consumers.

(Main image used courtesy Dolby.com)
(Author Pankaj Kedia is MD for Emerging Markets at Dolby Laboratories and has been with the company since 2009. Prior to this, he has worked with Autodesk as its Business and Regional Manager for 11 years. He has an experience of over 25 years in digital entertainment and technology. The views expressed are personal and Indianbroadcastingworld.com is not responsible for them nor does it necessarily subscribe to them)