OTT and it’s impact on Indian media & movie business
What is OTT?
In simple terms, OTT (Over The Top) is a term used to refer to a service like video, audio etc, which you can watch over internet. Mainly we are referring to movies, lots of videos from individuals which are uploaded over video storing and sharing platforms.
A professional implementation of OTT is Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos, YouTube.
A normal quality video needs about 300–400 kbps speed, which might be able to just deliver the video content. You might need better internet speed to watch better qualities. Not to mention the bottleneck at the source server which is serving you the content.
Disruption of Theater Business
There was a time when single screen theaters were the mode of entertainment where you can go and watch a movie. Then came multiplexes with multiple screens and and a lot more attractions.
Theaters
- Theaters had huge number of seats, all for a single screen which is running a movie for days in different shows.
- The pomp and show wasn’t there in theaters.
- People had no options.
Multiplexes
- Multiplexes have another nice option, variation and more choices to people.
- Better seating and socializing infrastructure.
- Better managed in terms of running cost.
Result ??? — Multiplexes closed down the shop of theater business.
New wave — OTT — a big trouble for multiplex business
- Multiplexes are economically viable for big or moderate cities.
- People now don’t have that much time to spend the whole day in a multiplex and mall.
- It’s becoming a hassle and a drain on money to go to multiplexes and malls.
- With OTT available, people want to watch the movies, videos, at the comfort of their home with all the flexibility at their disposal.
- OTTs are cheaper as well.
Another big angle for the OTTs catching up with masses is corona lockdown. Lockdown for months has shown the world that OTTs can deliver the entertainment needed at your home. Lots of movie productions have put their releases on hold. And, some of them have got into an agreement with OTT platforms to release them.
It’s been obvious for some time that the interests of movie/content producers, distribution network and multiplex,,,, are very closely inter-linked. They have been managing this via very close review sharing and promotional activities. I am just highlighting how the interests of different parties involved can be inter-linked to maximize their profit.
OTTs offerings
The offerings from OTT is more than movies and conventional entertainment
- They are cheap and very convenient to use.
- Their business model is usage based and lots of flexibility to user.
- saves time and energy.
OTTs have been giving a good competition to the traditional movie production businesses. They are now producers as well. With the high supply of talent (of different roles and jobs in the overall chain), OTTs are producing and offering variations and stories. Of course, people are switching over to OTTs.
Where is it all going ?
Traditional movie production is in grave danger. There are some components to the traditional movie production e.g. story, studios, actors, shooting, editing, distribution network, theaters/multiplexes.
None of these components are irreplaceable, when there are no shortfall of good stories and talent of different nature e.g. actors, set, studio. And, of course, OTTs themselves are now putting their money in the production.
A final test was done by lockdown, where people could get all the entertainment that they needed at home, when they want, and cheaper as well.
Is it good?
In a business scenario, nothing is bad if you can adopt to the change.
It is sure good for the consumer because of the obvious reasons, as stated above.
It is proving to be good for the artists and content makers as well, if they can find a good story and plot.
Though, for now, it is proving to be not good for the traditional movie makers. They are hugely invested in the overall chain of movies in all kind of roles. Some of these links to the chain, e.g. theater, distribution network, production are sure under threat from OTTs.
It looks like OTTs will promote and help the good talent as well, unless OTTs and their promoters find a way to manipulate this market segment, out of their greed to maximize the profits. But, this seems unlikely because of the competition within the OTT segment.
What happens when there are private OTT platforms? And, movies & video contents are offered through these private OTT platforms ? Will the consumer be willing to pay for all these so many platforms ? Another discussion for this, may be……
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