Until now, only big Bollywood movies such as Laxmmi Bomb and Bhuj, featuring Bollywood A-listers Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn, had sold to OTT platforms for a Direct To Digital release. South producers were still not convinced on the option. Several South movies did release straight on OTT, but they were relatively low-budget, female-oriented movies. Not a single big hero movie from the South had made it to a streaming platform. But with Suriya and Nani, that idea has changed. The precedent set by these two A-listers is bound to result in an avalanche of big hero movies from the South heading to OTT.
Which brings us to the question – will these two films releasing on digital bring new subscriptions in virgin OTT markets?
The answer is most certainly yes!
Consider this – in a normal world, it would cost Rs 1,000 for a family of four to watch one movie in the theatres. But with an OTT subscription for Amazon Prime (both Soorarai Pottru and V have been bought by Amazon Prime), which costs Rs. 999 for the whole year, that same family of four can watch both the big releases, and as many times as they wish. Also with the prospect of many more movies going direct to digital (both regional and Bollywood), they can make the most of a Rs 999 subscription – in other words, get the most bang for their buck!
Of course, besides these direct to digital releases, they get access to the entire library of unlimited films of the OTT platform. South viewers, especially those who don’t watch English shows, have never been particularly interested in buying OTT subscriptions for platforms like Amazon Prime, Disney Plus Hotstar, ZEE5 and Netflix – all four of which are now engaged in a race to grab top South movies. There’s talk that Vijay Sethupathi’s Ka Pae Ranasingam will release on ZEE5.
As a result, the virgin OTT market of the five southern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala is wide open for the above mentioned platforms to make a killing. Coz now, audiences in this as-yet-untapped market will certainly be interested in purchasing a subscription for these predominantly English/Hindi platforms.
We can thus say with confidence that the two stars Suriya and Nani will definitely add more subscribers to Amazon Prime.
Further, imagine if a biggie like ‘Master’ lands on OTT (there’s talk of Master going to OTT too). Whichever streaming platform bags its OTT premiere rights will see a massive spike in new subscriptions.
Direct OTT releases certainly spell ‘achhe din’ for the top streaming platforms in India.