SonyLIV was introduced to Indian viewers as an OTT platform back in the year 2013 when there were no Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in India. The streaming service had the privilege of many years of channels’ content through its parent company Sony Pictures Network India besides live streaming its own channels on the SonyLIV OTT platform.
The first few years for SonyLIV did not excite many Indian OTT viewers though. In 2020, SonyLIV reportedly had merely 7 lakh subscribers, and thus was behind rival OTT players like Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video, which were launched in India a few years after SonyLIV’s arrival.
Things began to positively change for SonyLIV in the year 2019-20 with the release of critically acclaimed SonyLIV original films and series such as ‘Avrodh’, ‘Gullak’, ‘Your Honor’, and ‘Bhonsle’. Positive word of mouth for these shows made OTT enthusiasts turn their attention to SonyLIV’s next project.
Thereafter, the biggest turning point and turnaround for SonyLIV turned out to be Hansal Mehta’s financial thriller ‘Scam 1992’ starring Pratik Gandhi as the infamous stockbroker Harshad Mehta. The show started streaming on SonyLIV from October 2020 onwards. Soon after, the number of subscribers for SonyLIV ostensibly increased at a rapid rate – courtesy the show’s cult following.
The phenomenal streaming success of SonyLIV’s ‘Scam 1992’ was soon followed by some more well received films and shows like ‘Undekhi’, ‘Maharani’, ‘Tabbar’, ‘Rocket Boys’, ‘Kaanekkaane’, and ‘Salute’, amongst others. And now, SonyLIV reportedly boasts around a massive 1.82 crore subscribers.
As a result of SonyLIV’s post Scam 1992 turnaround, the Indian OTT metrics have now drastically changed because SonyLIV is now amongst the top three OTT players (SVoD) in India in terms of the number of subscribers. Only Disney+ Hotstar is ahead of SonyLIV with the greatest number of around 4.27 crore subscribers under its belt. And yes, SonyLIV has outranked Indian OTT giants Netflix (59 lakh subscribers) and Amazon Prime Video (1.4 crore subscribers). This means SonyLIV currently holds the second spot in India as per the recent subscriber figures by Media Partners Asia data.
The success of the SonyLIV OTT platform could be attributed to the way it has been selecting its projects like ‘Scam 1992’, ‘Gullak’, and ‘Tabbar’ – the first two series are even listed in IMDb’s top 250 highest rated international television series of all time. And it’s been consistently doing it the right way. Currently, ‘Scam 1992’ holds 23rd rank on the coveted IMDb list and is even ahead of foreign shows like ‘True Detective’, ‘Fargo’, ‘Black Mirror’, ‘Succession’, ‘Stranger Things’, and ‘Narcos’, to name a few. Another SonyLIV original family drama series ‘Salt City’ has started streaming from today. Let’s see whether the show would be another feather in the cap of SonyLIV originals’ portfolio.
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