The OTT business continues to buzz with even more streamers launching in India. Niche and language offerings are all the rage, even as the early birds in the business continue to struggle to find enough worms to keep themselves in fine health. Gone are the heady days of heavy spending on content with revenues and paying consumers not measuring up. India- specific pricing – much lower than in other developed markets – has not got Indian viewers excited enough to subscribe. Growth definitely has plateaued with consumers choosing to binge when they want to, following the return of the world to post-covid normalcy.
Adding to the churn is the moved towards AVOD by giants such as JioCinema which is looking at totally disrupting the OTT ecosystem by offering premium events such as cricket at no cost to the consumer. Disney+Hotstar too has followed. The net result: streaming bottom lines are stained a b right red. The gradual emergence and uptake of FAST channels is also making the industry nervous. What is the way forward for the streaming ecosystem? Vidnet explores.
