Races Ahead of DTH With 55% Millennials Preferring OTT Over Traditional MediaVideo-on-Demand With more than 40% of the audience-base still preferring DTH, it's still a long way to connect with the 'Other India'
By Aastha Singal •
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India's video streaming landscape is oozing with content that was otherwise lost in the ocean of diplomatic cinema and broadcast. Talented artists, writers and filmmakers are now platforms for presenting the world with the best they have got. With more and more players entering the space, Flipkart being the latest, the scope of digital space keeps swelling.
OTT Over DTH
Millennials are not afraid for paying for consuming the premium content. In fact, prefer the over-the-top (OTT) video services better than the Direct-to-home (DTH) services. In a recent pan-India survey conducted by MoMAGIC with around 7,500 respondents, it was discovered that 55 per cent Indians prefer to watch and consume content on OTT platforms whereas 41 per cent still prefer DTH.
Original is the King
OTT players feed of either the originals they produce, which takes a whole lot of time, dedication, structure and investment, and the acquired content to enhance their library. 31 per cent of Indian consumers, preferred to watch original and platform exclusive content (Web Series /short films). Sports was the choice for 30 per cent, movies at 19 per cent and TV shows at 18 per cent.
Hotstar Takes the Cake
Unlike other OTT platforms, the homegrown player Hotstar feeds of live streaming sports matches, the four-year rights for which they acquired in April 2018. The platform has emerged as a clear preferred online platform to watch content. 41 per cent respondents said that they prefer to watch Disney owned Hotstar, followed by Amazon Prime Video at 26 per cent and Netflix at 9 per cent.
It is clear that disruptive OTT platforms are giving a tough competition to the traditional DTH operators possibly because of its convenience, on demand video service and affordable mobile data prices. "Going ahead, we expect OTT to grab additional share but DTH will continue to remain relevant," said Arun Gupta, CEO and Founder MoMAGIC Technologies.
