Explore about the best OTT platforms, their revenue model and why it is right time to start an OTT business in this blog.
The Indian film industry has seen a platonic shift in the last couple of years. The shift is not solely with regard to content. But also with regard to the box office earnings, newer controversies and the rise of a strong alternative to the traditional theater experience, cinema.
Best revenue model of the OTT platforms in India
Let’s break down the revenue model of the OTT platforms and understand how it would affect the nature of video content in this blog.
Over the Top, or OTT, platforms make money through various means. Like the traditional media broadcasting businesses, OTT platforms or the new-age broadcasting services (streaming media content over the internet),
Here are the primary ways through which the OTT platforms make money:
Sponsorship:
Sponsorship is one of the oldest and most trusted revenue streams for any broadcaster. From the early TV and radio days to the web series programs, getting sponsors onboard has been a time-tested option to monetize the content.
Subscription-Based Monetization:
It is a dynamic way to monetize media content. OTT platforms use this method to not just retain viewers, but garner money as well. So many OTT platforms have been very conservative with the subscription option and limit the whole of content or a part of the content to the users.
Advertisement:
Advertising is one of the most popular and sought-after ways to earn revenue. With the advancement in broadcasting technology, broadcasters and content creators have the option to customize the ads, thereby optimizing them for greater benefit.
Future of OTT platforms in India
The OTT platforms cannot be boiled down to a single moment because these new-age platforms make money in a variety of ways. The most traditional of these is the advertisement. Although not used by all of these platforms, this method has an advertisement plugged in the middle of your show or movie.
The non-premium package of several over-the-top platforms has been used as an efficient tool to get the potential customer jumped on. In the subscription cycle, the most common method which is used by several over-the-top platform applications is the subscription video on demand model. wherein the customer pays the subscription money to view the content of their choice. This model has been adopted by the likes of Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Sony Liv.
There also exists a hybrid of the two methods, wherein the platforms have two subscribers, free and paid. The difference is that the free subscribers will have to bear the advertisements and have fewer options to choose from. Several of the shows are only available to paid subscribers, as are others.
This formula is used by Disney, plus Hot Star and Zee5. A rather novel form of subscription is the one wherein the subscriber pays as per their needs. This includes the likes of Apple iTunes. This format is also known as the pay-per-view format, and all of you WWE fans out there will be well aware of this particular aspect.
Effect of COVID-19 pandemic in OTT business
In 2020, when the traditional method of theatrical release was marred by a global pandemic, many movies were released directly from the OTT platforms, which followed the subscription model. However, one of the most successful movies of the year financially, not critically, was Salman Khan’s radhe; the movie was one of the first Indian movies to use the pay-per-view formula.
It was released on Zee5, and it went on to become one of the most successful ventures of 2020. Amazon Prime India, one of the current agent’s premium platforms, employs a subscription hybrid and a pay-per-view model. The platform cashed in brilliantly by putting out KGF2, one of the most successful Indian movies of the years, in the pay-per-view format before making it available to all the subscribers.
As a result, more cream is produced. Disney Plus Hot Star is arguably India’s most popular OTT platform. Although the pull of the Tata IPL, and it’s being the official broadcaster of the home season of Indian cricket, is a major reason for it as well.
This needless hot star follows the hybrid model as it earns from its subscribers and advertisements on Netflix, which offers plenty of international content, solely making money out of subscribers.
The streaming platform does not rely on any sort of advertising. When the subscription is bought on Netflix, people are charged for selecting a different number of screens and the quality of pictures and for nothing else.
With no lack of content across the globe, it will be interesting to see what more types of revenue models these new OTT platforms come up with.
Conclusion
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