MUMBAI: After producing Indian adaptations of world famous, singing-based reality competitions such as 'Indian Idol', 'The X Factor: India' and 'India's Got Talent', FremantleMedia is now launching its first original format for Indian audiences in the form of 'India's Digital Superstar (IDS)'. 'India's Digital Superstar' is the first-of-its-kind reality series where the audience will be judging who the next 'Big Digital Star' will be.

FremantleMedia India MD Anupama Mandloi, at the launch, told Radioandmusic.com that depending on the success of the format in India, FremantleMedia will use it across other regions in which they are present. “Fremantle is delighted to launch a platform that will be accessible to everyone with internet access. Given that India is a priority market for FremantleMedia and a popular destination for many of our hit international brands, we want to continue driving our strategy of aggregating talent across media with 'India's Digital Superstars'. We have been instrumental in sourcing, discovering and unleashing talent across television and this is the obvious next step for us to take the talent hunt to the internet which is a world unto itself,” said Mandloi in a statement.

The launch of 'India's Digital Superstar' was held on Monday, 19 January at blueFROG Mumbai. In attendance were famous Bollywood musicians Vishal Dadlani, Salim Merchant, Shashi-Shivam, Anu Malik; new Bollywood singers Swaroop Khan and Bhoomi Trivedi. Also present were OneDigital Co-Founder/COO Gurpreet Singh and ZengaTV and OneDigital MD Shabir Momin.

Dadlani, Merchant and Malik were unanimous in their opinion of the World Wide Web being the next big portal for the mass to showcase talent. Malik said, “The internet is here to stay. First when you hear a music artist, you have apprehensions. But in time these artists take the world by storm.”

Merchant named US-based acapella group Pentatonix as an example of how an acapella group have now been signed under record labels and have a tremendous fan following.

The 14-week series will start auditions from 19 January which will culminate in the finale in May. The participants are to upload as many videos showcasing their talent as they may choose. Entries will be judged by the number of audience views and 'Likes' across YouTube, ZengaTV and Facebook. There is no deadline by which participants can upload their videos through the course of the series. However, they are only required to upload their videos until a week before the finale night.

The series will be powered by Gionee Mobiles, with Amazon India as presenting sponsor and RedFM as its radio partner.