Indian OTT originals attract a third of viewers amid content discovery hurdles
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The most popular Indian OTT originals such as Panchayat and The Family Man clocked in viewership of 30-40 million, or just about one-third of the country’s overall paid streaming universe, which experts said was a “fairly decent trend." The local OTT business is still struggling with paid subscriptions and discovery issues, given the number of options available across shows, languages and platforms.
However, others pointed out that the need for better algorithms and product experience comes into play here. The third season of comedy drama Panchayat on Amazon Prime Video had a viewership of 28.2 million earlier this year, according to a report by media consulting firm Ormax.
The top two Hindi language web series of 2023, Farzi (Prime Video) and The Night Manager (Disney+ Hotstar), garnered viewership of 37.1 million and 28.6 million, respectively. Ormax estimates India has 99.6 million active paid OTT subscriptions.
"Reaching one out of every three people paying for OTTs, across so many different platforms and tastes, is a healthy number," said Siddharth Devnani, co-founder and director at digital agency SoCheers. Devnani added that just as the YouTube feeds of no two people are ever the same, not every OTT show is tailored to cater to each individual, even though some come with broader appeal than niche content.
“OTT platforms allocate significant production budgets to their original content as each original series becomes a brand in itself, cultivating a loyal audience. The reach of each original title starts from its initial launch year, with many successful titles showing an upward trend in active viewers year-over-year," said Chandrasekhar Mantha, partner, media and entertainment
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