The production work has started on ‘We Got You Girl’, a new branded content series that marks the first collaboration between Amazon Ads and Banijay Asia, the makers have said.

The announcement was made by Gulshan Verma, Director, Amazon Ads in India, in a LinkedIn post yesterday, where he outlined the partnership’s objective of combining premium content with brand engagement.

Verma, who was earlier heading a similar business vertical at Jio Ads, said the collaboration with Banijay Asia stemmed from discussions that started eight months ago with Mrinalini Jain, Group Chief Development Officer, Banijay Asia & Endemol Shine India.

The discussions revolved around a partnership that would leverage Banijay’s intellectual property and production capabilities alongside Amazon Ads’ advertiser insights and audience reach through Prime Video, Verma asserted.

“Eight Months ago, Mrinalini Jain and I sat down to see if we could build a partnership together based upon Banijay Asia’s world class IP and production skill sets, Amazon Ads deep understanding of our clients’ needs and our ability to reach consumers at scale through Prime Video and finally build our content 2 Commerce to scale,” Verma wrote.

The first outcome of that collaboration, ‘We Got You Girl’, is hosted by actors Barkha Singh and Aisha Ahmed and has now gone into production.

The series is scheduled to launch next month and has secured brand partnerships with Foxtale, Nivea India, Prega News, Campus Shoes, Emami, Giva, Piramal I-Choose, Lavie and Hamdard.

“Our first joint effort (‘We Got You Girl)’ hosted by the talented Barkha Singh and Aisha Ahmed has finally hit the floor and am excited to see it launch next month,” Verma said.

However, it is not clear whether the series will stream on Prime Video or Amazon’s ad-supported service in India, MX Player.

Verma also acknowledged the teams from both organisations involved in developing the project, thanking executives including Banijay Asia head honcho Deepak Dhar, Jain, Karan D. Bhatia, Ipshita Mandal, Divyansh Anand and Pratibha Choudhary, along with several members of the Amazon Ads team, for bringing the collaboration to production.

Banijay Asia is one of India’s leading content production companies and the local arm of global content powerhouse Banijay Entertainment. The company is known for producing scripted and unscripted shows across television and streaming platforms, with titles such as ‘The Trial’, ‘Call Me Bae’, ‘Rana Naidu’ and ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’.

Amazon Ads is Amazon’s advertising business, offering brands marketing solutions across Amazon’s ecosystem, including Prime Video, helping advertisers connect with consumers through digital advertising, branded content and commerce-led campaigns. (Image courtesy Gulshan Verma’s LinkedIn account)