Media and entertainment goes over the top

Over-the-top (OTT) is the new love in India – both for the subscribers and players in the digital media and entertainment (M&E) space. It is also an area of key interest for the telcos that are now using OTT subscriptions to fight a new war. With the price-war bleeding the telcos, who now agree that a minimum floor price is essential for the healthy growth of the sector, the carriers are now doling free OTT subscriptions to ramp up their market share.

This is understandable; a Nasscom Community Insight report points out that with the proliferation of smartphones and the availability of low-cost internet connectivity, coupled with the extended lockdowns during 2020, OTT has emerged as the next normal in the world of entertainment. According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), India is currently the world’s fastest-growing OTT market and is all set to emerge as the world’s sixth-largest by 2024.

The PwC report estimates that the OTT market in India will grow at a CAGR of 28.6% over the next four years to touch revenues of UD 2.9 billion. It also indicates that the country’s total digital M&E revenue may register a 10.1% growth rate to reach USD 55 billion by 2024. The Media and Entertainment Outlook 2020 report points out that OTT video, along with online advertising, video games and e-sports, and music, radio and podcasts are the top four segments expected to see revenue growth in the country over the next four years.

The story of the OTT is similar in other parts of the world, especially in the Asia-Pacific region; the pay-TV service bearing the maximum brunt of the new players in the M&E sector. An analysis by GlobalData indicates that pay-TV subscriptions in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, and Vietnam will witness a slowdown as users swap their traditional pay-TV subscriptions with OTT video alternatives. It expects the pay-TV service revenue in Asia-Pacific to drop from USD 61.6 billion in 2020 to USD 60.8 billion in 2025; indicating a negative growth in the sector. In India, the pay-TV services revenue is expected to crawl at a CAGR of just 0.7%, up from USD 3.19 billion in 2020 to USD 3.30 billion in 2025.

To understand and evaluate the performance of OTT platforms in the country and rank the best, Voice&Data commissioned India’s first-ever comprehensive research to CMR and Mozark. The effort led to the country’s first report on the performance of OTT players based on the functional experience and emotional quotient. While the functional experience includes the responsiveness and streaming index, the emotional quotient maps the attachment that a user has to a particular platform.

The overall outcome is ranking of the Top OTT Platforms in India. Going ahead, we hope to include the regional-language OTT players in the ranking as well.

shubhendup@cybermedia.co.in