From providing content merely for entertainment to foraying into various categories the OTT platforms have come a long way. The lockdown imposed due to coronavirus became a blessing in disguise for them. With people stuck in their homes and looking for all sorts of things online, these platforms took upon the opportunity to become a one stop solution for all their troubles. Which were once just an app for watching shows and movies has now become a threat to TV and theatres. But that’s not where they are willing to stop.
Their insatiable hunger to score consumers has led them to explore and widen their content catalogue in order to provide something new and different constantly. Whether its education, gaming and sports, wellness, fitness and health or infotainment, these over-the-top mediums are upgrading themselves to be more inclusive. While they were already heading in certain sectors like education and sports, the coronavirus imposed lockdown made it inevitable to explore more into health, fitness and wellness.
With schools and colleges closed, it became difficult for parents to limit the screen time for their children. Now with availability of educational content they are a little relieved. Zee5‘s partnership with Eduauraa and VOOT venturing in the ed-tech segment were some of the news we heard this year. Another area which gained traction was health and fitness. With people becoming more aware about the importance of healthy living, transformation in this segment was much needed. With Disney+ Hotstar forging partnerships with Brilliant Wellness, Cult.Fit and Sarva recently and VOOT partnering with Cult.Fit and Isha Foundation, these platforms are ready to attract more people to them.
Even the experts in the field agree that this strategy is the need of the hour. KPMG India media and entertainment partner and head Girish Menon says that most of the OTT players were already looking at this strategy but the post-Covid2019 change has accelerated it. Also, Deloitte India partner Jehil Thakkar said “Consumers have been engaging with OTT platforms in a significant manner rather than certain hours. The idea is to increase the number of hours on the app, reduce video churn and increase retention.”
The experts from the field all agree that mere enhancement of the content catalogue will not help in retaining the customer unless it is relevant to them and can drive higher engagement. Another important aspect is building partnerships with premium partners. The B2B partners are attracted towards entities where the customer gets entertainment, infotainment, education all at the same place. Those in the field know it’s important that the customer keeps coming back and for that they have to offer more. Other than offering more, these platforms want customers to bring more customers with them. Moreover, as consumer tastes evolve they start moving around new content and that leads to a stronger brand affinity.
According to KPMG’s Menon, the platforms are looking to build an offering which is more comprehensive than pure-play content and these deals make sense as an extension of offering rather than starting a separate segment. While this offering is yet at a stage where the concern is mainly about consumption one cannot deny the financial aspect of these offerings and deals in the longer run.
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