RADHE’S FIRST DAY NUMBERS: PAY PER VIEW THE NEW BOX-OFFICE?
Experts wonder if revealing viewership numbers of an OTT release is the way ahead for filmmakers
I’ve always believed that collections of a film is between the producers and makers.
HANSAL MEHTA, Director
Filmmakers should only see how, over a period of time, people respond to their film.
ANURAG BASU, Filmmaker
Content is king and number game doesn’t matter — that was the perception about OTT space until Salman Khan’s Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai released the approximate figures. According to the makers of Radhe, 4.2 million viewers watched the film on pay-per-view on the first day of its hybrid release. Does this mean direct-to-OTT or hybrid releases might start releasing the revenue from online releases, making them new box-office numbers?
Trade analyst Taran Adarsh says the makers should release actual revenue instead of viewers. “When a film releases, instead of mentioning how many people viewed it, it would be great if people share the revenue,” he says.
Director Anurag Basu, whose Ludo released on web last year, says: “Filmmakers should keep that aside, and see how, over a period of time, people respond to the film.”
DIFFERENT SUBSCRIPTION MODELS
Radhe was a rare example of a big film releasing in the pay-per-view model. Shibasish Sarkar, CEO, Reliance Entertainment, explains the different OTT models. “Whether people will start talking about numbers or not, is in the future. Worldwide, OTT platforms don’t give out numbers, they are subscription-based platforms. What happened in Radhe’s case was Zee acquired the content, and at the same time, it released it on their own platform,” he says, calling that a Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD), where viewers had to pay ₹249 for viewing on a single account. “So, if films go the TVOD way, people may start talking about transactional numbers,” he adds.
NO WAY TO VERIFY
Trade expert Atul Mohan says that when it was about box-office numbers, there was freedom to verify and cross check. He elaborates, “We had teams across India for box-office collections; they would tell us by talking to theatre owners and on the basis of rapport we shared with producers.” But in web, one is at liberty. “If Amazon says a film was viewed by 50 million, nobody can challenge that. There’s no way to cross check. Though I’m not challenging what Zee has said for Radhe,” Mohan states.
PEOPLE GET SWAYED
Explaining how views don’t mean collections, director Hansal Mehta says, “If you divide the 4.2 million figure to one fourth — which is a million people — it’d come out to be around 10 lakh people and ₹25 crore. Is that a good opening figure for a Salman Khan film?”. He adds, “So, the number game isn’t applicable, as the product is available to stream for a much longer time online.” However, he admits people will be swayed by numbers. “To some extent, blind bhakts will be swayed by anything. I’ve believed that collections of a film is between the producers and makers. For the audience, it’s only about entertainment,” he concludes.