Regional OTT players or regional content would be the driving force for OTT in India. Analyzing the The Ormax OTT Audience Report 2021. conducted from May- July 2021 based on a survey across urban and rural regions, the report points out that only 11% of the total OTT subscribers in India are from metros. Bengaluru- Delhi and Mumbai are the top 3 metros that has highest OTT subscribers. Also 35% of the paid subscriptions are from these areas.
The survey shows that currently 96 Million active paid OTT subscriptions in India, across 40.7 Million paying (SVOD) audiences, i.e., an average of 2.4 subscriptions per paying audience member. 66% of these paid subscriptions are with the male audience. Indian OTT audience universe is currently at 353.2 Million (or 35.32 Crore) people. This translated into a penetration of 25.3%, which means that one in four Indians watched online videos at least once in the last month. Top 3 metros have 8 million subscribers each.
This means that close to 90 % of the OTT subscribers are in non metros and rural - Tier 2 cities. This kind of changes the perception that OTT content has to be more urban based . If regional subscribers outnumber the urban metros, the Stars and content too should be more driven towards them. In this place, regional OTT platforms which know the pulse of the audience can do better than the national players. A case in point being Hoichoi , Bengali OTT that is the favourite of Bengali movie lovers. The men behind the OTT were said to be having hands on experience as they were involved in the business side of Bengali movie industry.
There is talks that Gemini Labs which is now defunct and acting as a financial regulator for Qube in Chennai is likely to enter the OTT space. Aha in Tollywood has not been able to make a mark. In Kerala, Saina - First Show, Neestream and one recently launched by producer Badusha are operating.
It also a signal for national players to look for more regional content to keep their subscriber base from being eaten up by regional players. Amazon Prime has created a base among regional movie watchers in the South .
The full report is available by subscription for streaming platforms, production companies, media agencies, and other companies associated with the OTT category in India peaking about the need for the report, Shailesh Kapoor, Founder & CEO – Ormax Media, said: “India’s OTT audience universe is rapidly growing, and an accurate estimation of market size is a crucial strategic component in a growing category. While streaming companies have data on usage and subscription of their own platforms, there is no industry-level audience research available to size and profile the Indian OTT market at large. This research, which will be conducted in the same period every year, aims to plug this significant data gap in the streaming industry in India”.
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