OTT మార్కెట్ సినీ పరిశ్రమ తీరు మార్చేసిందా ?

OTT: The need of the hour and a silver lining

With the extended lockdowns and the current state of the economy, OTT seems
to be the next normal for the world of entertainment. For weeks now, films
have been bearing the brunt of cinema complex/hall closures. Coupled with
the numerous ongoing and new projects on hold, the film industry might be
looking at losses around INR 30 billion. As the lights are going out on live
events, shoots and movie premiers, the only silver lining amidst all this is
the rise of the popularity of OTT. The halting of productions may have dried
up the content line, but streaming hasn’t stopped via the OTT platforms
across the country. At the same time, ad-spends have gone down significantly
due to a knock-on effect of the recessionary impact on financial services,
e-commerce and automotive industries.

Initially, there might be discomfort among the big players of the film
industry regarding the new normalcy, but research shows that, even in a
post-COVID19 world, OTT services will continue to dominate. Therefore, the
need of the hour is for the key investors to think about the integration of
technologies.

OTT can help content reach millions of potential consumers at the fraction
of the cost of a formal release and traditional ad promotions. The launch of
a new movie on DTH and OTT simultaneously can garner over billions of
viewers across the globe. The production house could potentially make
millions within the first weekend of release by monetizing their online ads.
While cinemas can still see multi-million dollar releases, they can minimize
the monetary risk by taking out a minimum guarantee deal for covering their
production cost.

Release via OTT channels can eliminate the threat of piracy production
houses currently face in India. In fact, the mass availability of content
can eliminate the necessity of piracy altogether.

The new OTT trends entail for consumers and producers

Right now, the emerging trend of OTT streaming of content puts forth the
following trends –

The demand for high-quality content is increasing every day as the common
person is able to access OTT platforms from their home.

The OTTs will find newer ways to make advertising profitable as movie
watching becomes more common and cheaper for everyone with a subscription.

Already, several production houses have a collection of their content
available for platforms like YouTube, but soon they will reach out to other
rising OTT platforms of preference in India including Hotstar, Sony LIV,
Hoichoi, Eros Now and Sun NXT.

Theatres will soon become an exclusive or luxury experience as audiences can
watch the hot new releases as well as the classics on a combination of OTT
and DTH from the comfort of their own homes at the fraction of the price.

More movies will hit the popular OTT platforms like Prime Video, Netflix,
Disney+ and Eros Now after their initial release in their theatres.

Many movies and TV shows will rake more profit on the digital platforms
following the footsteps of Trolls World Tour and some might release
exclusively for OTT platforms like Manhunt, Ghost Stories and Guilty.