Over the previous couple of years, the over-the-top (OTT) media companies market in India has doubled in measurement. The general development of the media & leisure trade, regardless of the present financial uncertainties, gives an encouraging image. OTT media noticed a big uplift throughout the pandemic lockdowns, with development persevering with at the same time as restrictions eased. According to GlobalData, subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service income in India is anticipated to develop at a compound annual development price (CAGR) of 15.5% from $1.3 billion in 2021 to $2.7 billion in 2026.

The speedy migration of viewers on streaming platforms, which accelerated in 2020 and 2021, has seen new enterprise fashions emerge, with an elevated deal with promoting as subscription development tapers off.

The high 5 OTT platforms in India

Disney+ Hotstar: AnIndian OTT streaming platform owned by Novi Digital Entertainment, a subsidiary of Disney’s Star India. It options two paid subscription plans; ‘VIP’, which focuses on home applications and sports activities content material, and ‘Premium’, which options premium worldwide movies and tv collection.

Amazon Prime Video: Amazon Prime Video launched in 2016 in India and has been among the many high 5 OTT platforms in India from the outset. As nicely as English, Prime Video was accessible in six Indian languages from December 2018.

Voot: Voot is a video-on-demand (OTT) platform, which is part of Viacom18 Digital, the digital arm of Viacom18. It has over 35,000 hours of content material for audiences with various decisions and preferences.

Netflix: One of the most well-liked streaming companies on the planet. The OTT platform gives 4 subscription plans together with Mobile, Basic, Standard, and Premium. It confronted robust competitors given the big variety of OTT platforms in India, a lot of which cost decrease subscription charges than Netflix. Despite this, it’s nonetheless among the many high OTT platforms in India due to the standard and vary of the content material it gives.

ZEE5: ZEE5 is an Indian video-on-demand service run by the Essel Group through its subsidiary Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It streams a few of its hottest TV serials, which had been already broadcast on tv.

Dispute on implementation of regulation

The Telecommunication Bill 2022, drafted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), has included OTT for the primary time as a part of the telecommunication service. According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), India has facilitated the expansion of each OTT service suppliers in addition to conventional service suppliers, which is mirrored within the sturdy development within the digital economic system. The basic goal of the proposed measure was to supply an applicable regulatory framework for the operational features of OTT communication companies. Including OTT gamers within the scope of telecoms licensing implies they can even pay a license price. This has three main implications:

• Access prices for shoppers may go up considerably as license prices are handed on to them.
• This might in flip hinder development and innovation within the house, as OTT apps have helped construct a broad start-up ecosystem, with India having created greater than 100 unicorns.
• It might scale back the variety of subscribers as free OTT apps on this digital public infrastructure at the moment permit tens of millions of Indians to entry.

Future of OTT platforms in India

Media & leisure is without doubt one of the fastest-growing industries in India. However, it may be laborious to maintain up with shifting shopper calls for and altering content material tendencies. Consumers usually tend to watch a wide range of content material every time and wherever they need. However, the federal government will embody no matter controls are deemed obligatory within the soon-to-be-unveiled Digital India Act. Also, it has promised that licensing will act towards cast accounts, shield shopper information, and restrict gamers’ competitors. This will lead to each optimistic and damaging penalties.