Small screens eating up big screens

The over-the-top (OTT) consumption  has increased from 181 billion minutes to 204 billion minutes, according to consultancy.in.

The lockdown has been difficult for cinema halls, the staff and  distributors as  theatres are only allowed to open with 50 percent occupancy in Karnataka.

 Hemanth Anand, the owner of Vijayalakshmi theatre in Garudachar Palya said, “We are putting money from our pocket.”  He also said that they have reduced the staff because they are only serving “packed foods like chips and not samosas and burgers.”

Tavleen, a college student said, “I miss eating the cheesy popcorn at PVR.” She said that watching movies for her is a “larger than life experience” which is supposed to be enjoyed without any “distractions.”  

Nawaz from Akash cinemas in Peenya said that the reason people are not coming is because “big films are not releasing” in the theatres. Platforms like Disney + Hotstar and Amazon Prime are premiering various Bollywood movies from July to October. However, “Since producers receive a promised commitment and a minimum wage when smaller films are acquired by OTT platforms, so when a smaller film is released in theatres, it requires a lot of costs and increases the budget of the films, which in essence is a pressure factor for producers to get the money back .” according to a research paper by Mr. Sony Varghese, Assistant Professorand Selvin Chinnaiah from Xavier Institute of Management and Entrepreneurship (XIME), Kochi.

The OTT consumption, according to a report by consultancy.in has increased from 181 billion minutes to 204 billion minutes.

Aditi, a design professional said, “I don’t mind it as I don’t have to sell my kidney to buy a tub of popcorn and coke. It gives me freedom to watch content when and how much I want. Also I’m not into mainstream mass appeal cinema which mostly airs in cinema halls. OTT lets me watch good content.”

For Jaismine, another college student, going to cinemas, was an “occasion.” She said, “streaming movies online can sometimes be depressing and she misses the feeling of  mutual experience with strangers or friends.”

“The flourishing and growing multi-crore industry seems to be challenging the very survival of cinema halls and traditional media platforms such as cable or satellite television,” said Dr. S Shyam Prasad, Professor of Marketing fromInternational School of Management Excellence in his research paper.