India's Emerging OTT Market Flourishes Amidst Pandemic

Imagine being under lockdown at the time where there is no Internet or when there is internet but no YouTube or even few years ago where there were no OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar etc. It must be horrifying, if not for all but atleast for majority of us. Over the past couple of years, OTTs have slowly started becoming a part of our lives. It was gradually penetrating through the middle classes and then this Covid-19 pandemic made sure that it reached to everyone. 

This pandemic made not stepping out of the force and work from home the new normal and thus gave more time for viewers to spend watching their screens. After days work, people wanted to relax and then the unlimited content on the OTT platforms became their source of entertainment as they provided the variety of content.


The OTT Platforms

OTT stands for Over-the-top. It is the system which provides entertainment directly to the user's screens. It is like personalized form of entertainment. The growth of  OTT has disrupted traditional satellite and traditional cable systems. The comfort of watching at home has actually garnered more viewers who would otherwise do not want to go to theaters. This thus added more revenue to the entertainment industry and also opened huge platforms for the creative people who would want to make a mark in this domain.

The major OTT platforms at present are Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, Zee5, Sony LIV etc. Netflix and Amazon dominate the market with their quality content,Disney Hotstar being very close. This pandemic has been a boon to these OTT platforms. Their viewership increased tremendously and they want to cash on the new digital population and wanted to go all out in their marketing to make the best use of this situation.


OTT Marketing with the help of Social Media

We are seeing many production houses are planning to release their movies directly in OTT because they are not sure on when the theaters will open again and even if they are opened will the public throng to theaters as before. Holding movies without release is a big financial burden and hence the movie studios and production houses are tying up with OTT platforms to release their movies. Now normally every film will take up promotional activity like city tours, events, interviews etc. but due to the pandemic all those have been stopped and hence promotion on social media has become, if not only, the major platform for promotion. Main platforms like Instagram, Facebook and the less famous ones like Snapchat, Tiktok have become the place for promotions. 

Aggressive campaign and visibility on social media will catch the attention of audience and so they might watch the films when they release on OTT platforms. These promotions also help the celebrities to create a great bond with the audience and thus helping in increasing their image.

New Releases - Hotstar+Disney

Various strategies being used

Personalized content:

Some of the best practices that platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime are doing are working on the customized and personalized recommendation feature which basically gives you suggestions about the content you may like to watch in the future based on your interests or previous preferences.  Like for instance, a person who has been watching comedy series a lot like Friends or Brooklyn Nine-Nine would be recommend similar shows like The Big Bang Theory by Netflix which that person may seem to like and this indeed would make his/her experience better as he/she would know what to watch next. This is one of the marketing strategies that seems to be helpful because Netflix knows how to target the right audience and how to go about with the recommendations because it does not make sense in suggesting a comedy series to a person who has been watching a lot of period dramas.

Can create fandoms/communities:

People are crazy towards their favourite movies/series and the characters in them. So OTT platforms can cash in on this craze and fandom and create avenues where people with common interests can come together to share and spread their love toward a movie/series and characters in them. This indirectly helps in publicising the product and hence helps in growth of the OTT platform.

Cheaper and flexible options:

The pricing of these OTT platforms has to be customized according to the country that they are willing to enter. For instance, the prizing of these platforms cannot be same in the US and India. It has to be according to the per capita income of that particular county so that it is feasible and accessible by most of the people. Different OTT platforms have different fare rates. Like Disney Hotstar Premium is Rs.1000 per year which provides nine languages, TV shows, for up to 5 screens whereas Netflix Premium pack on the other hand is Rs.800 per month, which is Rs.9600 per year and provides only for four screens which is costly. Thus, the pricing has to be in such a way that more number of people tend to subscribe to your OTT and also should be flexible by providing different options like buying only for one screen or buying for more screens etc.


Netflix Pricing in India

Analytics:

Analytics provide the data about the number of viewers and targeting options. This can help the OTT platform to reach a larger audience. The analytics are performed through different types of data. All the data about the key performance indicators, sales, complaints are provided through this. Keeping in mind all of these measures, the OTT platform can improve their performance.

Creativity:

Consumers always explore new things which creates opportunities for these platforms to showcase their content. Exploration of different genres and content has to be the main goal of these platforms. For instance, OTT platforms have to keep bringing in new and unique content that people may enjoy. Another way of promoting the brand can be by collaborations like Hotstar with Disney which opens up more content for people to watch from. The OTT Platforms can create and share high quality videos during the lockdown period so that people would not lose interest in watching the content.


                                                                            

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