The Indian entertainment business has undergone a tremendous change in the last ten years and the main cause for this shift is the growing demand for OTT (Over the Top) platforms. In case you are not familiar with OTT, they deliver movies, web series, documentaries and other videos to audiences online instead of being distributed through cable or satellite television. The Netflix’s, the Amazon Prime videos, the Disney+Hotstar, the JioHotstars and countless other OTT providers are currently revolutionizing how people watch content in India.

Whether you are in metro city, a small town or even a village; OTT brings new dimensions to the way people entertain themselves now days.

With an increased penetration of smartphones and internet in all parts of the country, the OTT space will clearly impact the future of entertainment in India considerably.

Easy Access to Entertainment Anytime, Anywhere

One of the main reasons OTT is popular is its convenience. Unlike watching television, OTT subscribers don’t have to wait for shows and episodes to be broadcast at specific times. OTT platforms like Netflix and Hotstar allow people to catch their favourite content whenever and wherever they wish; all they need is a smartphone, tablet, computer or a smart TV.

The accessibility on OTT platforms has a huge impact in viewer behaviour.

Students would often binge-watch their favourite shows during weekend, executives and business travellers can use their travel time effectively, families get their quality movie time at the comfort of their homes. This boom in usage of OTT platforms has gained momentum with the introduction of cheap internet plans by service providers across India, making it affordable for the vast majority to enjoy seamless streaming. By providing content on demand OTT platforms have placed power in the hands of the consumer.

Growth of Regional Content

How regional content got a boost The rise of OTT streaming services has been significant in popularising content from different regions. Historically, most of the entertainment we watched was driven by the mainstream, primarily in Hindi through Bollywood and the film industry.

Now with regional platforms that cater to regional languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi and Kannada among others; regional writers, directors and actors have got a huge platform and are now making their presence known across the country.

From Tamil thrillers making inroads into Delhi to Malayalam dramas creating a buzz in Mumbai, fans of regional films and web series are now being seen in all regions because of subsidies and subtitles.

Rise of Original Web Series and Fresh Storytelling

OTT platforms have helped OTT platform filmmakers and writers venture into bolder narratives OTT platform, which follows rigid formats and censorship controls on TV; there’s more room for experimentation and creativity with scripts, themes, and characters. Original Indian OTT web series dealing with issues such as crimes, politics, society, relationships, and history has seen a massive boost. Sacred Games, Paatal Lok, and many others established the fact that Indians accept more complex content on the OTT platform.

Writers are also looking at the real world themes and well crafted characters rather than formulaic movies to keep it interesting.

This is giving more scope for Indian cinema to grow into even better storytelling and content creation.

Increased Opportunities for Artists and Creators

OTT growth is creating a boom for thousands working in the entertainment industry, from actors to editors and cinematographers. In the recent past, good and versatile actors who found it difficult to get chances in commercial cinema due to mainstream film fraternity restricting scope to certain characters have now got abundant chances thanks to the content driven.

Changing the Cinema Business

OTT players are also influencing the business of movie theatres. Traditionally, the only method for films to generate money was through theatrical exhibitions. However, these days digital rights form a big portion of revenue in the film business for producers.OTT platforms also take OTT, particularly smaller budget films and documentaries, and feature direct OTT releases.

As digital streaming is vital during COVID-19 with theatres remaining shut, major movie industry trend continues to be accelerated.

Although this doesn’t say Ott would be able to replacing cinema entirely. Major films such as action and festival’s best works, including the ones fronted by popular actors, remain popular with the movie theatre audience. It looks like the movie industry will see a world in which bothOTT platforms and movie theatres will co, exist with differing preferences.

Personalized Viewing Experience

The best way these platforms determine exactly what they can offer you to make sure that you want the content is to use their complex recommendation engines. When they recommend content based upon what they know about our viewer personas and our consumption, it helps. If one viewer has a penchant for crime and thrills, an OTT service will recommend related crime and thriller films.

Another who loves to watch the romantic drama will have romantic entertainment recommendations pop up on their homepage. This will result in more views and more satisfied customers.

Unlike cable and broadcast networks that air the same programs to each viewer according to their schedule, OTT content comes to each user in their own customized environment. It is no wonder they have so many loyal, long term customers!

Impact on Advertising and Revenue Models

How streaming has changed advertising OTT has also led to a transformation of advertising in India. Different streaming platforms offer models for OTT  including subscription models and ad supported models. Smart digital ad campaigns reach users instead of generalized ads The idea is to take the television advertising models online and deliver targeted advertisements to particular age, location, language and viewing audience on OTT streaming.

However, a hybrid model using the idea of ad subscription together with a direct payment is also gaining momentum,  a way to make entertainment affordable and earn profit with targeted ads.

These trends point towards an increase in commercially backed or data-oriented entertainment consumption.

Challenges Facing OTT Platforms

Challenges for OTT Platforms Besides the burgeoning business of OTT platforms, there are numerous challenges they face and will face:

Customer Churn The sheer competition within OTT service providers have put significant pressure on subscriber retention and engagement. With plenty of alternatives to choose from, subscribers hop from one platform to another due to lack of strong content or budget concerns. Content Regulations Content regulation has emerged as another pressing concern in India. There are arguments over the question of regulation of content, censorship guidelines and suitability to public-viewing norms in addition to age barriers for sensitive material, content that’s offensive sensitive to any religion or group.

Online Piracy Online piracy also threatens the viability of these platforms, as much of its content goes to the illegal content distributors.

Higher cost in Production In order to deliver high, quality and in-demand content, OTT players will need to invest a lot of money which leads to challenges for budget and finance of these platforms.

Future of Indian Entertainment

When it comes to OTT innovation, OTT is here to stay and is going to lead future Indian entertainment. Features like artificial intelligence, smart recommendation engine, innovative storytelling in terms of interactive video and high quality streaming have the ability to boost the user experience further. Also, with the roll out of 5G connection in all corners of India, streaming of videos is only expected to become faster and smoother, eventually catering even to areas that were never reachable and bringing in a whole lot of viewers to the digital space. From a mere alternative of television, it now acts as the very focal point for entertaining the country.

Conclusion

OTT platforms are changing the Indian media Landscape with readily available and versatile content for the audiences with diverse and rich storytelling experience by empowering regional artists with storytelling and production. They also play an immense role to help the viewer’s decide what to binge watch on the given day as their favourite celebrities will feature on their respective channels. There are of course some drawbacks such as competition from other OTT platforms or regulation policy issues.
Indian Ott market is still very much dominated by few players and OTT market is still evolving to fulfil all. The entertainment requirement of audience.
Internet is spread throughout India and, technology advancement will help Ott platforms reach remote areas of India for delivering best Indian and western series to make entertainment possible on anytime and anywhere for all the age groups.