THE BEGUMS OF BINGE
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC MAY have confined Indians to their homes in the past year and a half, but amidst the gloom and doom there was one sector that was experiencing a boom: streaming entertainment. A whole new breed of content creators and distributors from the brave new world of Over The Top (OTT) platforms brought a quiet revolution to the way Indians spent their days of confinement. Instead of the tyranny of appointment-viewing and re-runs of old movies that cable TV offered, OTT platforms used the internet to stream entertainment in all genres, formats and languages. Most importantly, the content could be viewed at a time, place and on a device of our choosing: a cellphone, a laptop, a tablet—or, of course, a TV screen.
2020 was in fact a watershed year for the Indian entertainment industry. At long last, Indian viewers were spoilt for choice. The plethora of films, series, anthologies, documentaries and shorts that OTT offered wasn’t limited to desi fare but was a massive buffet from across the world. Be it the anthology series Ray or the professor’s exploits in Money Heist (Spain) or bingeing on 16-episode Korean dramas, there was something for everyone. So even as uncertainty reigned in the film industry, the 40-odd OTT platforms including the big-daddies Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar, Sony LIV and ZEE5 treated viewers to an estimated 1,200 hours of fresh content in 2020.
An EY-FICCI report from March 2021 confirms that the pandemic accelerated the growth of the industry last year with 28 million people—up from 10.5 million in 2019—paying for 53 million OTT subscriptions last year (which includes subscriptions for multiple platforms). Bollywood can no longer overlook the growing might of OTT. It’s where the money is and, consequently, the jobs too. According to Media Partners Asia’s ‘The Future of India’s Online Video Market' report, OTT platforms are expected to invest $1 billion for content in 2021. Taking to OTT isn’t a sound career move; it is a no-brainer.). And it is only going to get more competitive with Indian streaming platforms like ZEE5 vying with international ones like HBO Max which is planning to set up shop in India.
