OTT in India
Clinching the OTT revolution
There has been a massive rise in consumer preference for digital OTT platforms in India which has raised a crucial issue of whether Television will remain the preferred source of information.
Within a short period after the Jio era, there has been a major shift of terrestrial broadcasting and viewership of television to smaller and personalized screens for the consumption of entertainment. People now don’t have to wait for the clock to watch their favorite show but instead, binge-watch the series.
Disruption in the Indian Television Market
India has seen a major surge in OTT platform subscriptions apparently in Covid times. Low telecom tariffs helped in driving towards the expansion of digital platforms. This leads to higher growth opportunities across tier-3 in India.
Currently, there are more than 30 players in the space of video streaming and each is aiming to expand in its niche and provide exclusive content. For an instance, Disney Hotstar being the market leader in India focuses more on live broadcasting of sports event whereas Amazon Prime along with OTT aims at offering benefits to customers by prioritizing them while shopping while on the other hand, Netflix is popular for its premium content playing a vital role in influencing an American culture in India.
Now let’s consider facts about OTT consumption in India
It has come to know that 5 metro cities account for more than half of the OTT users. Disney Hotstar being the market leader followed by Amazon Prime and Netflix. Near about 3/4th of the population from big cities prefer OTT content.
Policies and Regulatory Environment in India
Recently Central government issued a notification that stated that OTT (Over The Top) platforms and online news portals will come under the ‘Information & Broadcasting (I&B) ministry. Before this, they were under the ‘Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. This move caused fears of censorship of both OTT platforms and online news portals because traditional print media and television, which were under the I&B ministry are regulated.
Censorship helps in preventing anti-social, hateful, and explicit content from reaching the audience, and thereby social order can be maintained. Might even protect the sentiments of people by preventing the content that is hurtful to some cultures or communities.
But at the same time, it is unfair to dictate what to watch and what not to watch. If it is censored, the content may stoop to the same level as television content. This may discourage investment in OTT platforms.
And hence, self-regulation code is much better than censorship in the case of OTT platforms.
Conclusion
It’s a growing sector with lots of opportunities. The competition will push for improved content as compared to that provided over television. With time it will enhance user experiences and diversification in content, usage, and revenue giving a tough run for television channels.
