While the Netflix and chill culture has permeated through the youth of this generation, the creative heads of these major platforms have also realized that it is essential to tap into this vast reservoir of potential eyeballs which is why we feel that sporting events (especially global ones) will play a large part in the future of digital platforms in India.
The younger generation in India are hardcore sports fans, and cricket is like a second religion to everyone. The football craze has also slowly been growing with the inception of the ISL as well as the popularity of the premier league. All this can prove to be a gold mine if only such events are appropriately targeted.
We have already seen the likes of Disney+ Hotstar use this market to its advantage by allowing its viewers to stream the IPL as well as the Premier League on its platform. It comes as a win-win for both the viewers as well as the platform as they have seen massive surges in its subscribers mainly to stream these matches.
SonyLiv has secured the rights of the champions league and Europa league whereas Voot could only manage the Carabao Cup. What this tells us is that these platforms understand the importance of such events and are trying their best to get them for their audiences.
Even though big guns like Amazon Prime and Netflix do not stream any live sporting events, they have created documentaries regarding huge sports personalities and teams to pique the interest of its viewers. These have been a great source of income for the team as well as providing a better understanding to the fans as to what goes on behind the scenes.