ALL THE ACTION IS HERE:OTT

Life, they say comes a full circle. It seems to be no different for our very own movie stars.

Vidya Balan, Shah Rukh Khan, Mandira Bedi, Yami Gautam, late Irrfan Khan and Sushant Singh Rajput, all began their acting journeys from television screens.

With the rise of over-the-top (OTT) platform, not only are movies being released on OTTS but also coming to OTTS not too long after they have been released on the Silver Screen (if at all).

What is more, it is not just movies launched on OTTS but also a host of TV series that are seeing stars making Television their playground. OTT has been a game changer in the entertainment industry.

Think Manoj Bajpayee’s Family Man, Pankaj Tripathi starrer Mirzapur, Madhuri Dixit’s Fame Game, Sacred Games starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Saif Ali Khana, Shefali Shah in Delhi Crime, Radhika Apte in Ghoul and innumerable others and you know the shift is visible.

‘Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2022-2026’, the latest report by PWC on India’s entertainment and media industry pointed out how, partly driven by the absence of public entertainment and additional time at home, total OTT revenue more than doubled in 2020.

The report stated that the trend continued in 2021, with revenue nearly doubling again. The OTT market is estimated to expand by 14.1% CAGR to reach Rs 21,032 crore in 2026. Subscription services are driving this growth, the report claims, accounting for 90.5% of revenue in 2021 and set to account for 95% in 2026.

Dr. Gajendra Awasya, Assistant Professor, Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism & Communication, Bhopal and Manoj Kumar Patel, Research Scholar, Jagran Lake city University, Bhopal in a research paper state that the experience of collective movie watching habits were demolished after the rise of OTT video streaming services. It started after internet data became cheaper but OTT began the process of ending it completely.