OTT giant ZEE5 has gotten its content acquisition model all wrong. The platform has been extensively focusing on small-budget films featuring relatively lesser known star cast. The new addition to the list is Sumanth Akkineni’s forthcoming film Malli Modalaindi. ZEE5 announced that Malli Modalaindi will be available for streaming on the platform soon.
The thing with low-budget films is that they are more like penny stocks. Not often do that they come good. Even if small films like these strike a chord with the OTT audience, they will bring very limited reach to the OTT platform. They won’t have what it takes to pull the larger section of the audience. ZEE5, for some reason, is not comprehending this and the OTT platform is going after small films like Malli Modalaindi and the recent Sankranthi release, Hero. With all due respect, these films don’t quite help ZEE5’s branding The fact that Sree Vishnu’s Raja Raja Chora which could garner very good response from the OTT crowd but could not boost ZEE5’s prospects one bit proves the same.
But things don’t look all that bleak for ZEE5 as they have a few big-ticket offings in store. The OTT platform owns the post theatrical digital streaming rights of biggies like RRR (South Indian languages), Radhe Shyam (South Indian languages), and RC15 (all Indian languages). These are three of the biggest films in South Indian cinema and they most certainly will help ZEE5’s prospects. They are expected to bring the OTT platform a whole lot of branding value. These films are the real deal and as it appears, only these biggies can help ZEE5.