From Jamtara to Panchayat, the Content on OTT Seems to be Migrating from Bigger Cities Towards Smaller Towns and Rural Areas
India has witnessed an incredible rise from 128 billion minutes to 204 minutes in 2021
The OTT platforms have revolutionized and transformed the entertainment scenarios in India. OTT platforms have garnered a huge popularity in India, especially since the beginning of the pandemic. Netflix India’s spokesperson explains why.
Affordable technology and cheap internet access through the dominating service providers like JIO made it possible for the OTT platforms to expand its roots to the rural areas and build an unbreakable subscriber base.
According to the reports, the minute consumption of OTT platforms in India has witnessed an incredible rise from 128 billion minutes to 204 minutes in 2021.
The reports further suggested that if the OTT platforms are able to maintain the current viewership, these statistics indicate that OTT will be the ‘new normal’ for television.
The Indian OTT content seems to be migrating from bigger cities towards smaller towns and rural areas. A survey conducted by The Ascent Group India suggested that over 60% of OTT content consumption in India is from the rural areas.
A few years back, when OTT was a newly introduced concept in India, it felt like something that was designed for the urban masses who could easily binge watch the content on their smartphones with high-speed internet. However, things have taken an unpredictable turn in the last four to five years.
A majority of the content on OTT today is based on the rural Indian structure. The leading OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Zee5, MX Player are making efforts to showcase the real-life stories of rural India through the icon shows like ‘Jamtara’, ‘Panchayat’, ‘Aashram’, ‘Sutliyan’, ‘Paatal Lok’, ‘Kaagaz’, ‘Minnal Murali’ and many others.
Talking about the remarkable shift in the content of OTT platforms, Netflix India’s spokesperson said “Today, with streaming services like Netflix, a unique story with novel treatment has the ability to find its audience without limitations on format, language or duration.”
“Whether it’s the critically acclaimed Marathi film ‘The Disciple’ or a superhero film ‘Minnal Murali’ set in Kerala, which trended in the Top 10 across 30 countries, or our recent series ‘Mai’ and ‘Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein’ set in UP, our aim has been to bring in the most entertaining stories to our viewers which also have a deeper meaning within.” He added.
