India is one of the biggest markets for global OTT, with more than 350 million daily users, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. For a country like India, sports streaming plays a very crucial role, but recent events are causing extreme frustration among viewers.
Let’s delve into it.
Currently, Indian sports streaming is shifting from Hotstar’s monopoly to a more diverse system with a freebie model. However, this model brings a host of problems. Take, for example, the two major sports tournaments: the Euros on SonyLIV and the Cricket World Cup on Hotstar.
The primary issue the audience faces is irregularities in streaming. Buffers and lag are killing the experience, forcing fans to constantly reboot the stream to get rid of the laggy experience.
Even the FPS (frames per second) is a concern. Fans expect better than the 25 FPS they are currently getting, which makes the already laggy stream even worse. Additionally, even if streaming platforms offer 1080p quality, it often drops without reason. Moreover, 4K streaming is unavailable for most of the stream, even if the device has the capability to support 4K.
Regarding the streaming experience, advertisements play a significant role in live sports and freebie models. JioCinema emerges as the biggest advertisement culprit, with an uncontrolled model that can play unskippable ads even during live sports. Hotstar and SonyLIV are somewhat better, but SonyLIV, like JioCinema, plays overlapping advertisements, ruining the experience.
In most cases, the platforms also fail to provide Dolby sound, which is another major turnoff for fans.
Amidst all these issues, Hotstar does come out as a relatively reliable platform. It is handling the World Cup quite well, and during the Premier League season, fans rarely complain.
Indian OTT giants need to listen to their users. They must improve not only the quality of the stream but also all other aspects of streaming. Otherwise, for a country like India, linear cable and piracy will become the go-to options for sports streaming, and OTT platforms will face significant losses.
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