Local OTT platforms see growth and are on par with major players like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
Regional over-the-top (OTT) media services like Aha, Sunnxt, NammaFlix, and Manorama Max are gaining subscribers on par with major OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in India.
A spokesperson from Aha, a Telugu OTT service, said that they have 1.5 million subscribers as of now and are inching closer to the two million mark. They are seeing exponential growth in the number of downloads of the app and are available on different platforms, unlike other OTT services.
“Recently, we launched a few Telugu originals like Unstoppable and 3 Roses, which are pretty successful in boosting the subscribers and app downloads,” he added
A spokesperson for Namma Flix, a Kannada OTT platform, said that to boost their subscribers, they partnered with various DTH service providers like Airtel and Jio.
Another spokesperson from the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said that the regional players in OTT gained traction only when the pandemic started in March of 2020. Since then, many regional players have entered the market and some of them have gained subscribers on par with major OTT platforms like Netflix, Prime video, and Hotstar.
Recently, many DTH and telecom service providers have been partnering with OTT platforms and providing them with their existing plans, which also boosts the number of subscribers gained by these regional players, he added.
Pavan, a regional OTT service user, stated that while he only subscribes to Netflix and Aha, he receives other services such as Prime Video and Hotstar for free through his telecom provider. Airtel recently launched the Airtel Xtreme Premium Service, which aggregates 15 OTT services into one for a price of Rs.149 per month. The platform will show more than 10,500 movies and TV shows from a range of OTT platforms.
Dr.R.Shashi Kumar, professor in the Department of Economics at Bangalore University, said that the OTT platforms saw a huge gain in market share over the pandemic.
“Since, the beginning of the pandemic, the daily viewership has skyrocketed. The regional players started to launch their services as they thought it’s the right time to enter the market. But not everyone was successful. So, they started partnering with DTH and telecom service providers to gain a good number of subscribers and it’s a win-win situation for both of them,” he added.
