OTT VS THEATER
Television once used to be a scare luxury which could be afforded by a niche few in India.
One or two channels available in black and while colours were enough to catch attention
and ignite imagination of the ignorant and economically compromised Indian audience. As
decades passed by, technology grew and so did the creative canvas for thematic
exploration. From just being a medium of information dissemination to becoming a 24X7
companion, the role of television screen has evolved dynamically in the past 50 years.
While OTT has become the new buzzword, it might be hard for some to believe that OTTs in
India are over a decade old platform. Reliance Entertainment launched the first OTT
platforrm in india in the year 2008. Thereafter, India received its first OTT mobile app called
nextGTv, which provided access to both - normal TV and on-demand content including livestreaming of one of the most popular sporting event - Indian Premier League matched in the
year 2013-14. The medium gained popularity when biggies like Zee and Sony entered the
market with DittoTV (Zee) and Sony Liv. DittoTV went on to aggregate content from
channels including Star, Sony, Viacom, Zee and more and this led to a wider adoption of the
platform per say.
Today, India enjoys services from over 40 OTT providers including domestic and
international players like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+Hotstar, Zee5 and Eros Now.
According to a credible research firm - Price Waterhouse Coopers Global Entertainment and
Media Outlook 2019-23, the over the top (OTT) market in pegged to growth at the rate of
21.8 % CAGR, from Rs. 4,464 crores in 2018 to Rs. 11,976 crores in 2023. Meanwhile, FICCIEY Report 2019 suggests the market will reach Rs 24 billion by 2021.
Factors affecting the Demand:






Growing content availability on OTT platforms – 32.1%
Lack of entertainment options - 28.3%
WFH give me the flexibility and choice-26.4%
Became more tech savvy during COVID lockdown - 13.2%
To keep my kids engaged - NA
To keep my parents/elders engaged– NA
Factors affecting the Supply:

The regions whose authority offers better incentives gets more film production
companies interested in producing movies as compared to those with less
attractive incentives.



Infrastructure development of an area also affects the production of films and
movies in a given area.
The presence of cheap labour promotes the production of more movies and films.
The factor has a higher impact on the rate of production than the effect of
incentives.
The presence of skilled crew promotes the production of more movies despite their
expensive nature.
Impact of COVID on TV viewership,
including OTT
If 80s was an era of DoorDarshan and 90s dominated by private broadcasters, media and
entertainment gurus predicted that 2000s will be an era dominated by technology enabled
entertainment beyond TV screens – there will be greater uptake for ‘content of demand’
and by that we don’t just mean the genre and nature of content but the choice of time,
place and device as well.
OTTs are not limited to audio visual content, the audio only market makes for a significant
share of this market. While platforms like StoryTel and Audible are gaining popularity,
innovative offerings like Graphy (by homegrown edtech soonicorn Unacademy) are still to
be categorised as OTTs.
Growing internet penetration and access and availability of multiple screens and gadgets
have encouraged the development and growth of OTT platforms in the past decade.
A recent study by the Boston Consulting Group indicates projection that the OTT media
industry in India, which stands at 0.5 billion dollars at the moment, would see a surge in
growth and reach 5 billion dollars by the year 2023 (BCG, 2018, p. 21). The two factors
touted to be the propelling factor for this growth being convenience it affords to its client as
well as the factor of affordability. This rapid growth is being termed as the “OTT
Revolution”.
THE POTENTIAL OF THE INDIAN OTT MARKET IN 5 YEARS
Before we were hit by the current COVID – 19 crises, this figure of growth
was projected to be tad bit shy of four hundred dollars billion by 2026. It is safe to say that
the current COVID – 19 crises have proved to be an extremely positive influence on the
whole OTT industry. Consumers whilst staying at home have been indulging in more and
more of content on the varied OTT platforms, much more than ever thought before, which
has pushed forward the traffic on such platforms.
Impact of COVID on screen time
Owing to the lockdown and restrictions on social mobility, people had to stay at home and
operate from restricted premises. In the survey, the researchers found that over 87.3%
respondents felt their screen time has gone up individually and as a family post COVID,
while 9.5% did not observe a significant change. Close to 3.2% respondents were unable to
make any notable observation in this regard and therefore could not say if their screen time
increased or not.
Preference between OTT v/s TV
It is clear that OTT exposure and adoption is growing and as this survey is specific to the
metro cities, love and liking for OTT is significantly higher that Television. While there is a
notable number of people who like watching both platforms alike, the purpose and nature
of content consumption may differ.
Preference of content - TV v/s OTT content:



OTT over TV – 75%
TV and OTT alike – 21.7%
TV over OTT – 3.3%
Largest media spends are on television
When it comes to the digital medium, the time spent in India is lower than that of US and
China. Further , according to BARC, youth viewership has grown on TV.
Given the increasing popularity of the digital medium it is surely gaining advertisers’ monies,
however , television medium to produce content, which isn’t the case with the digital
medium. Since traditional medium like television and print still dominate overall ad spends
in India and the brand building is still largely happening through mature ad mediums such as
television. Given the huge viewer base that TV enjoys, from an advertisement perspective,
TV viewership is more valuable than a similar viewership on digital video.
PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020-2024
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
In the near future, both TV and digital video will grow in parallel. Television viewership will
see a steady increase, video OTT will grow as a second screen. Also, with the growth of
viewership of the digital media, we will see advertisers spending more money on the
medium, though, television will still get the major share of ad spend compared to the OTT
medium.
Further, with the cheap data network provides like Jio , we see a rise in the consumption of
OTT content. However, it is unlikely to have a huge impact of the share that television
medium enjoys.
We will also see OTT players pushing in more regional original content to suit the taste of
the younger generation on the portals since the current viewer base is mostly the youth.
At the present the OTT market is highly dispersed with pure OTT players, channels and
media houses , telcos etc. In the coming years, we will see an emergence pf a more
collaboration ecosystem.
India is a major for the global OTT players and the boost in the infrastructure and
digitisation is surely going to further shift the way media is consumed across mediums. It is a
critical time for both TV and the OTT medium with a plethora of opportunities. Players of
this growth, and TV and the video OTT platforms will find a perfect platform to co-exist in
India.