Of late whoever I talk to, OTT platforms and who is watching what always finds its way into the conversation. Gone are the days of rallying friends and family and heading to cinema halls, concerts and plays. Now we dim the lights, grab some homemade popcorn, order food and sink comfortably into a recliner or bean bag in front of the television at home. Did you know that Covid 19 managed to do what two world wars could not: shut down cinemas! But, entertainment has a way of resetting itself. The void created by the lockdowns and social distancing norms was quickly filled by OTT and digital entertainment.
We are in a new era of entertainment. Live drama and theatre made a shift from stage to screen with performances and readings on virtual platforms. Live streaming and digital music concerts made up for the lack of musical evenings and even art exhibitions went virtual. But I had definitely never imagined a circus going online! The iconic Rambo circus took a genre that is built on immersive experiences to an online format with a 45-minute pre-recorded event. Titled ‘Life Is A Circus’, the show played 34 times during Diwali 2020 and garnered a viewership of 60,000-plus, raising almost INR 21 lakh in ticketing revenues and donations.
If we look back at the pandemic, the lockdowns really pulled at the reigns of the entertainment industry. No new movies were released and even TV serials were unable to shoot episodes to air, leading to a lull at the start. However we, the unrelenting audience, expected them to continue to entertain us, after all the show must go on. It’s amazing how quickly the industry rebooted and found ways to function in the new normal. Shoots began to happen in bubbles where the entire cast was tested and had to stay isolated together as they worked, chat and reality shows were shooting without studio audience and channels began to air old popular shows to keep the audience entertained.
OTT is here to stay
When theatres opened after the first wave, cinema fans went back to movie theatres, excited to enjoy the big screen experience. However, after the harsh second wave earlier this year, audience has become cautious and wary of closed mass gatherings. As a result, OTT has emerged as the go-to platform for entertainment, offering content for every age, segment and gender. Movies, TV series, reality shows and documentaries are now available at the tip of fingertips.
With no hope of footfall increasing in cinemas, filmmakers have now started to release movies direct on OTT platforms. But, can direct OTT movie releases be sustainable? OTT rights are sold at a fixed price, with no link to performance of the film. So, smaller or medium films stand to benefit from OTT releases as they get fixed revenue without the risk of failing at the box office. Only time will tell if big budget films also follow suit eventually.
There is no surprise then that there is a rise in digital subscriptions. According to an FCCI-EY report 28 million Indians (up from 10.5 million in 2019) paid for 53 million OTT subscriptions in 2020. While theatrical/cinema revenues fell to less than a quarter of what they were in 2019, a portion of this loss was made up through higher digital rights revenues which almost doubled to INR 35 billion in 2020.
So what makes OTT a hit? They focus on app/platform intuitiveness, ease of navigation and attractive aesthetics. A user like you and me is inclined to stream more with the possibility of arriving at a title that resonates with us. The platforms offer hyper-personalization driven by data analytics, AI and machine learning enabling them to make better predictions for users. Based on interests and watch history, the platforms suggest shows and movies that an individual would be interested in watching, making it easy for to make a choice. Moreover these platforms play on mobile phones as app, on laptops and TVs, making them accessible wherever you go.
There are about 40 OTT platforms in India currently, including regional players. In fact, the past year has seen regional OTT platforms mushrooming across the country in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Much like how TV broadcasters such as Zee and Star has sensed an opportunity a decade back and launched regional channels, OTT too has realised the potential of regional demand. According to the FICCI-EY report, the share of regional language consumption on OTT platforms will cross 50% of total time spent by 2025, displacing Hindi at 45%. Some popular regional platforms are: Hoichoi in Bengali, Aha in Telgu, Koode in Tamil, Planet Marathi and Olly Plus in Odia.
This is just the start for OTTs and as these platforms mature, I expect to see some assimilation given the variety of platforms we have today, but that’s a conversation for another day.
Playing Now
There is no denying that OTT is now an integral part of our daily lives. As much as I enjoy watching new content, what I love about the platform is that a viewer can chance upon or discover shows and movies that he/she might have missed. I had shared my binge watch favourites last Christmas, here is what I have been watching lately:
The Spy: This one is a fascinating and classic espionage saga where Sasha Baron Cohen plays Israel’s most famous spy, Eli Cohen, who went deep undercover for Mossad in Syria in the 1960s to obtain military secrets and thwart attacks on Kibbutzim in northern Israel. Inspired by real-life events, the mini-series on Netflix is based on the book L’espion qui venait d’Israël (English: The Spy Who Came from Israel), written by Uri Dan and Yeshayahu Ben Porat. If you enjoy thrillers, look no further.
Arrow: I am still watching this one, have finished two seasons, and I must say it’s a near perfect superhero series. During my childhood I enjoyed heroes such as Batman (1960’s) and Knight Rider (1982), I have now come across something that has such sophistication. After being presumed dead, playboy billionaire Oliver Queen returns after five years to Starling City to right the wrongs his father made as a hooded vigilante armed with just a bow and arrows. The fight choreography is incredible, especially the fight between an unmasked Oliver Queen and the assassin played by J. August Richards. Everything about the first season of Arrow is magic!
Upload: A sci-fi comedy series, Upload portrays afterlife as a virtual world nearly as maddening as our own. Where tech companies digitize human consciousness and grant customers a virtual afterlife of their choosing, for the right price. A satiric portrait of a world where the afterlife is just an app with pop-up ads and subscription tiers seems a bit like a Black Mirror episode. The series raises questions regarding our dependency on artificial intelligence and shows how the lure of eternal life, even in digital form, seems to outweigh the negatives. Hint of comedy and romance along with sci-fi makes for wholesome entertainment giving wings to your imagination.