Back in May, Amazon Prime announced the release of 7 direct-to-digital films on its platform which included major films such as ‘Gulabo Sitabo’ and ‘Shakuntala Devi’ that have a star-studded cast and 5 other South Indian films like ‘Ponmagal Vandhal’, ‘Law’, ‘French Biryani’, ‘Penguin’ and ‘Sufiyum Sujathayum’. Out of these, ‘French Biryani’ is yet to release but the others have and the general consensus by critics and audiences alike is that they’re sub-par and not quite hitting the mark with the expectations they generated.
The novel strategy implemented by the streaming platform in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a lot of buzz and hoo-ha around the exclusive and promising line-up it offered but ultimately with the lack of a strong narrative or compelling performances the films fell flat and didn’t advance Amazon Prime’s viewership or revenue as they’d hoped.
Strangely there are a myriad of films that have been phenomenal successes at the box office yet the direct-to-OTT mania seems to show no signs of stopping for now. But ultimately, films work because of their content and audiences will realise the truth of their mediocrity and prefer to watch films that’ve been re-released digitally instead.
And so in contrast, Netflix has consistently been putting out quality films not just regional but also foreign produced such as ‘Bulbbul’, ‘Love Aaj Kal’, ‘Choked’, ‘Extraction’, ‘6 Underground’ and more recently ‘Ludo’, ‘Raat Akeli Hai’, ‘Dolly Kitty Aur Who Chamakte Sitare’, ‘AK vs AK’, ‘Torbaaz’ among many others. In this latest list Netflix has smartly balanced the direct-2-digital films to acquired film ratio, making it a safe bet for the platform.
Although it has landed with much more films than Amazon Prime, Netflix has ensured that it’s not swayed with the temporary trend of OTT releases instead opting to give equal importance to the licensed deals and box office successes as well.
This does two things; first it smoothness the success rate of the platform by overshadowing the mediocre films with the out-and-out hits and secondly it helps with the revenue growth of the platform as more viewers are likely to subscribe to watch the BO hits they might’ve missed or catch multi-starrer big budget exclusives on the OTT platform.
If Amazon Prime wants to level up to Netflix’s level it has to pull up its socks and choose quality over quantity to retain its existing viewer base and gain market share in the digital entertainment industry.
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
