What if filmmakers had the opportunity to release their films, though not in theatres but people still had to buy a ticket to watch it? Would they be willing to take on the risk or would they still prefer to go for the safer deal of direct-to-OTT release, as they are doing now? Wasn’t the theatre release all about putting your work out there in people’s hand and then let them decide it is worth it or not.
OTT services like ShemarooMe Box Office let you do just that and that’s what sets it apart from its peers in the field like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar and more. ShemarooMe works on the Pay Per View (PPV) Model, where you just have to pay for the content you want to watch while the latter are mostly reliant on SVOD (subscription model), where you are provided with a library of content to watch from.
The PPV model has not yet gained the popularity or success, either in India or globally, in contrast to SVOD given the risk factor it entails. This is what prevents the big budget or big star projects to venture into it because they want sure shot returns on their investment. Interestingly, the film’s performance on a platform like ShemarooMe Box Office may be the closest thing to the box office collection parameter when it comes to gauging the film’s actual performance.
Such behaviour by filmmakers raises a big question that are they shying away from the risk of being judged by people and trying to be on the safe side because they are not sure about their work. Or maybe the deals by big OTT platforms is so lucrative and irresistible that they think its better to recover the cost than take the risk. And if that’s the case, will it change or remain the same when theatres reopen?
Though when we consider smaller films or new filmmakers, ShemarooMe Box Office seems to be an ideal choice, as they get to sell tickets through BookMyShow and see how their film performs and feel those Friday theatre release jitters. Moreover, they can later later sell the film to TV or any other SVOD platform and unlock further monetization options for the film.
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