Pandemic-induced restrictions fuelled the exponential growth of OTT platforms in India during 2020. However, gradually other modes of entertainment such as TV and theatres started to play catch up, only to be again hit by a roadblock in form of fresh curbs on shoots and theatre occupancy, amid surging Coronavirus cases. Now with weekend lockdown and night curfews becoming a part of our lives, will the OTT viewership again witness a massive growth? And more importantly, whether digital platforms will go in a fast track mode to churn out more content?

Divya Dixit, senior vice president, marketing, direct revenue and analytics at ALT Balaji, says, “While Covid redefined how content will be consumed – the year 2021 is sure to chart new business alliances for us as well as revenue models for platforms to acquire direct subscriptions. Due to Covid-19 impact, the next billion internet users are coming from the Hindi heartlands...”

Elaborating on why there won’t be a dearth of web content in near future, despite ban on shooting in Maharashtra, Dixit reveals that the OTT platform’s line-up for the next three months has already been shot.“Some of the biggest shows that are in our pipeline are Mai Hero Boll Raha Hu, Broken But Beautiful 3, Puncch Beat season 2, among others... We are ramping up our production capabilities to deliver quality content for our audience. We do not plan on acquiring films for now as we truly believe in the content stickiness of our originals and fiction franchises that help us drive the user base predominantly,” he adds.

Filmmaker Ashish R Shukla, who has helmed web projects such as Bahut Hua Sammaan, Bicchoo Ka Khel and upcoming series Candy, says there will again be a surge in OTT content. “This year people are a lot more confident about releasing their products on OTT. Unlike last year there would not be too much thought given on it. I do think we’ll see a lot more film release on OTTs... and this year we might see some very big films too. When a film comes on web, there is no latakti talwar ki Friday [release] karna hai ya weekend karna hai. Even if it’s a ₹4 crore film or a ₹40 crore film, both are thumbnails of equal size,” shares Shukla.

Netflix too, has got a huge line up slated for this year in terms of original and licensed content. “We’ve already announced 40 titles and if there are opportunities like last year where we got films such as Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl and Raat Akeli Hai, we’ll continue to do that,” a source said.

While there seems a consensus on expected surge in viewership, many feel a stark change from last year would be extra caution in acquiring the content.

“A lot of platforms made a few wrong buying decisions over the last one year. While it is very hard to ascribe a value to a product on OTT, which was meant for theatres, obviously there has to be a fair value,” says Siddharth Anand Kumar, vice-president, TV & films, Saregama, while adding that at Yoodle films, they do have a few direct to OTT releases finalised but till now there hasn’t been any urgent demand. “For now there has been no request from the platforms to deliver content before time. I can understand how there would be a little bit of anxiety if the lockdown becomes more stringent but I don’t see it as of yet,” Kumar ends.