Thanks to the (still ongoing) pandemic, OTT platforms – both giants and regional, all around the world have benefitted from a huge boost in subscriptions and profits; the Indian market being no different. Now both streaming giants and Indian local OTTs are planning to spend massive amounts in 2021 to create loads of new original Indian content. And with the way things are going, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar together might outspend all of the local Indian OTT players combined.
According to Omdia, a London-based technology research and consulting firm, the above mentioned three OTT giants are expected to collectively spend around USD 383 million, which is Rupees 2824.9 crores, for original Indian content next year. Compared to this, the entire Indian regional OTTs are expected to invest USD 282 million (Rupees 2080 crores) in total, for their original Indian content for the fiscal year of 2021.
These local streaming operators include – Eros Now, SonyLIV, MX Player, Voot, ALTBalaji, Jio TV + Jio Cinema, Hungama Play among many others. So collectively, we are expecting USD 665 million (Rupees 4905 crores) worth of investment for original Indian content in 2021. This data is part of Omdia’s report “2021 Trends to Watch: Indian Pay TV & Online Video Market” which was written by Principal Analyst, Consumer Constantinos Papavassilopoulos and Senior Analyst, Consumer Ismail Patel.
India is one of the largest consumers of OTT entertainment (especially during the pandemic) so it is no surprise that multiple OTTs are aiming at the Indian market. With almost 300 – 450 million people having subscribed to one or more OTTs in India, this decision to create more original Indian content is both gratifying and exhilarating. Putting Indian stories available on the global market as well as elevating Indian filmmakers to globally recognizable actors, directors, writers, etc. will be good for the already booming Indian film community as they pave their path into becoming a world-wide brand.
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