A lot of big-budget hit Malayalam films have moved from theatres to various streaming platforms due to the state-wide lockdown in Kerala (because of the rising number of Covid-19 cases in said state). These include ‘Nayattu’ going to the International behemoth Netflix, ‘Operation Java’ going to the Indian giant ‘ZEE5’, ‘Nizhal’, and ‘Aarkkariyam’ releasing on multiple OTT platforms including Amazon Prime Video, among many others. But these films all have either big stars, directors or script writers backing the project. OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar have certain criteria set for regional films to make it on to their OTT platforms and because of that most small-to-medium budget films usually lose out (especially regional Indian language films like Malayalam). Now, a new OTT platform called “My OTT” is expected to release by the end of this month, specifically for these movies.
Producers of small and/ or medium budget films, which usually have a budget of Rs. 10 Crore or less, find it hard to find an OTT platform for streaming their features. This is usually because these movies wouldn’t have been as marketed as their big-budget counterparts – which would be due to a lack of a prominent star (one of the major reasons anyway). This will cause the previously mentioned OTT giants like Netflix or Amazon Prime Video to move away from these projects. Of course, there are other smaller (regional) OTT platforms willing to stream the movie, but these platforms rarely offer good deals.
One of the best (and most common) deals these movies receive are 20-30% of the film’s production cost being paid up front (to the film producers) while the rest is paid as per the amount of minutes/hours of the content streamed on the platform. So, if a user starts watching the movie and then decides to change after 10 minutes, then the producers will only get paid for the 10 minutes of viewing. And in most cases, these film producers will not receive any money until the streaming platform has recuperated the amount of money they had spent on acquiring the movie first. So, not very ideal.
So this is where “My OTT” comes in. Using a Video on Demand model, this subscription platform allows movies to be watched on their platform, similar to how movies can be viewed at theatres, or for rent. So based on the amount of people renting or buying the movie, the film producers will get a percentage amount (as agreed between the two parties before the movie starts streaming). The platform is expected to be up and running by the end of this month, so we don’t have to wait for long to see how it looks.
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