Onwards and upwards: OTT continues its growth trajectory in 2021

India's fledgling over the industry (OTT) industry continued its upward growth trajectory in 2021 thanks to increased investments in original content, entry of new streaming players, and experiment with new pricing models. The OTT industry also witnessed an upsurge in advertising and subscription income with Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, ZEE5, and SonyLIV leading from the front.

According to Omdia’s 2021 Online Video Market and Consumer Trends Report, Amazon Prime and Netflix were expected to spend $340 million in 2021 which would have represented 52% of the total OTT content investment during the year. Omdia had projected that close to 400 original titles (mostly series and films) will be produced in 2021 by the global and Indian OTT services. The report had also stated that 65% of the total spending is directed towards original content in Hindi.

Media Partners Asia, in its 'The Future of India’s Online Video Market' report, had forecasted that SVOD revenues are expected to grow from $800 million in 2021 to $1.8 billion+ by 2026. Further, the OTT AVOD revenue is projected to touch $2.4 billion in 2026 from $1.1 billion.

The report also mentioned that the OTT industry's content investments will touch $1 billion in 2021 with acquired & commissioned local originals accounting for 30% of this pie and expected to increase to 40-45% in the future. The report also stated that key players will continue to invest in local content while leveraging sports, movies and aggressive consumer pricing to drive growth.

"The pandemic itself proved to be a game changer for the OTT industry that introduced everyone to a new way of consuming entertainment. Before the pandemic, the Indian OTT market was a nascent category however, since last year the space began booming at an astonishing rate and the demand for quality content skyrocketed. One of the biggest trends of the year has been big ticket direct-to-digital releases, like Radhe, Rashmi Rocket, Bob Biswas for us at ZEE5 and many others in the industry. We saw a healthy pipeline of movies releasing on OTT platforms, giving rise to hybrid releases, a trend we foresee continuing even in the future," said ZEE5 Chief Business Officer Manish Kalra.

"In the past few years, we have seen a tectonic change in the way content is created, accessed, and viewed. Video streaming services such as ourselves, have democratised access to quality content and helped empower creators and talent. The OTT industry has emerged as a force for good, creating jobs opportunities and fuelling economic growth. 2021 also saw India turning into the world’s fastest growing OTT market and also the world’s sixth largest," an Amazon Prime Video spokesperson said.

New OTT platform launches in 2021

In February, BookMyShow launched Transaction Video-on-Demand (TVOD) streaming platform BookMyShow Stream. With over 600 movie titles and 72,000+ hours of content, BookMyShow Stream features a specially curated library of films and content from around the world including India.

Amazon launched a free, ad-supported video streaming service miniTV within the Amazon shopping app. miniTV has professionally created and curated content across web-series, comedy shows, tech news, food, beauty, fashion and more.

US media giant NBCUniversal recently launched its all-reality TV and ad-free subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming service hayu in India. hayu offers over 8,000 episodes of top reality TV content and is available at Rs 349 for a 3-month prepaid pass or Rs 999 for 12 months.

In a market which already boasts of 40+ big and small players, the number of OTT platforms kept on increasing with the launch of many regional and niche platforms.

Entry of OTT aggregator services

The launch of new OTT services has meant that the Indian consumers are spoilt for choice. In order to overcome this problem, the Indian market saw the entry of OTT aggregator apps like Prime Video Channels and ScreenHits TV. Direct to home (DTH) Tata Sky's Binge+ set-top box (STB), telco Bharti Airtel's Airtel XStream STB, and Reliance Jio's broadband arm are already aggregating OTT services and offering them as part of a bundle to their customers.

US and UK streaming aggregator ScreenHits TV formed its first joint venture partnership with former Sony Pictures Networks India CEO Kunal Dasgupta and EVP Vivek Gupta. Globally, ScreenHits TV allows subscribers to integrate their existing streaming platforms including Amazon Prime, Disney+, StarzPlay, Moviesphere, Paramount Plus, Britbox, MUBI, ITV Hub and BFI Player, among others.

In September, Amazon launched its global service Prime Video Channels in India with the goal of creating a video entertainment marketplace in India. Prime Video Channels had partnerships with eight premium content providers - discovery+, Lionsgate Play, Eros Now, DocuBay, MUBI, hoichoi, Manorama Max, and Shorts TV – available with add-on subscriptions to Prime members in India.

New subscription packs and models

2021 was a mixed bag for the OTT industry as far as pricing is concerned. While some platforms like Disney+ Hotstar and Amazon Prime increased their subscription price, there were some platforms like ZEE5 and Netflix which reduced their prices.

Netflix India cut down the price of its subscription plans to widen the subscriber base. The price of Mobile plan was reduced from Rs 199 to Rs 149 a month. The Basic plan saw a massive reduction from Rs 499 to Rs 199. The Standard and Premium plans are now priced at Rs 499 and Rs 649 a month compared to Rs 649 and Rs 799 earlier.

“When we look at the coming year, we are so excited for our members to see the unprecedented line-up of series and films - the range, the quality, the storytelling, the characters. With the recently announced price change, Netflix is now even more accessible and audiences can watch their favourite stories on their mobile for INR 149, and on any device starting at INR 199 every month. We have some big titles coming up starting this month and all through 2022," a Netflix spokesperson said.

ZEE5 slashed the price of its annual subscription plan by 50% to Rs 499 as part of a limited period offer. The new plan was clubbed with Salman Khan's 'Radhe' which had a simultaneous release in theatres and digital. The Radhe Combo Offer was launched to onboard new subscribers.

Beginning September, Disney+ Hotstar launched three new plans which include Mobile at Rs 499 per year, Super at Rs 899 per year, and Premium at Rs 1499 per year. Unlike the earlier plans, the platform has started offering access to the entire content library even to subscribers of Basic plan. Earlier, the basic plan started at Rs 399 a year. The platform is reportedly testing Rs 49 and Rs 199 mobile plans.

Amazon increased the price of its annual Prime membership programme by 50% to Rs 1499 from Rs 999 annually. The price of monthly plan was hiked to Rs 179 from Rs 129 while the quarterly plan now costs Rs 459 compared to Rs 329 earlier. Prime Video service comes bundled with the Prime membership programme. The e-commerce giant also partnered with Airtel to launch Prime Video Mobile Edition plan starting at an introductory offer of Rs 89.

Rise in Connected TV viewership

Of the 210 million TVs in India, 20 million are Connected TVs with a 20-30% sales growth year-on-year. According to Affle-owned mediasmart's 'India CTV Report 2021', CTV users are young, urban adults who are already mobile-first and are actively engaging with diverse apps such as social media, e-commerce, and gaming.

Further, over 65% respondents who are part of the study subscribe to more than one OTT app. There is 40%+ adoption for the leading eight OTT apps in India: Disney+ Hotstar, Amazon’s Prime Video, Netflix, ZEE5, MX Player, Sony LIV, Voot and Alt Balaji. The inclination on app usage is also heavily dependent on seasonality and timing, the report said.

"With the pandemic being a shot in the arm for the OTT industry, we have observed a massive rise in content consumption on connected devices, heightened the living room experience. People are now keen to opt it thanks to the increased adoption of connected devices. This growth of the connected devices ecosystem has made OTT a preferred choice not only for personal but also for family consumption. At ZEE5, we have seen a 3X growth in the viewership on connected devices. More than 50% of watch time comes in from connected TV. The rise in power-packed dynamic storytelling and the rise of connected devices has led to the advent of the ‘Home Box Office’ which is a trend that is here to stay," Kalra stated.

The Prime Video spokesperson said that India is the second-largest online market in the world, and this is driving both the mobile and connected TV opportunity in the country. "For us, India is not an ‘OR’ but an ‘AND’ market. We program for individual as well as the entire household - which entails programming for viewership on personal screens and for community viewing on living room devices such as Smart TVs. Our programming has to cover each of these use cases and curate a truly differentiated content slate," the spokesperson said.