Work-from-home drives up demand for OTT content, subscription

Social distancing and work-from-home have prompted more Indians to sign up for video over-the-top (OTT) services, providers claim gleefully, saying there’s been a jump in subscriptions and consumption. Hiren Gada, CEO at Shemaroo Entertainment, told FE viewers were more than happy to watch old Bollywood movies and older shows on ShemarooMe. And given that television shoots have been temporarily stalled, and one won’t see new episodes aired for a while, it won’t be surprising if more OTT content is consumed.

Tarun Katial, CEO, Zee5 India, said subscriptions were up 10% in the second week of March over to the first week. Consumption of original content has grown by more than 10% while the increase is a more modest 5% for television content (catch-up TV and live TV) through connected devices like Amazon Fire Stick. “Key metros have contributed the most to the rise in content viewing,” Katial pointed out.