Global OTT giants such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ have been experiencing high subscription rates and viewerships for the past few months (around 8 in fact), thanks to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. They have especially benefited well from the Indian audience who have been staying indoors and consuming a lot of streaming content. But the country has already started opening up, and with the theaters slowly admitting people over the past few weeks, OTTs are going to experience a dip; if not now, then soon.
People have been restless in their homes for the past few months but still they have adhered to staying indoor till the nationwide “Lockdown” was completed. Human beings, at their very core, have never been good at staying still one place for too long and with the theatrical releases of India’s largest production to date, ‘Brahmastra: Part One of Three’, ‘TENET’, ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘The Croods: A New Age’ next month, we can easily expect a much better (bigger) turnout in cinema halls. Even if the pandemic has made it difficult to predict the situation, December will still be one of the biggest month for movie releases in the year 2020 (including pre-pandemic).
Uday Shankar, the outgoing president of the Walt Disney Company APAC and chairman, Star and Disney India, said that these OTT platforms shouldn’t be taking such huge subscriptions rates for granted. One prime example that showed that people want to go out to watch an event, was from the massive increase in subscription rate and viewership during the IPL 2020 season. Disney+Hotstar recorded their highest ever viewership as the cricket tournament wrapped up earlier this month.
So when the pandemic subsides, all OTT platforms should get ready for the dip they will experience in the subsequent weeks (or months). After being cooped up indoors for so long – going out recreationally is a luxury, which Indians have now realized. So after months of “work-from-home”, there is a very good chance many Indians will spend their free time even by simply going outside rather than staying indoors (once the pandemic reduces to more manageable levels).
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