RISING SHIFT TOWARDS OTT APPS

DURING COVID-19.

INTRODUCTION:
Today, as fast as technology is changing, the faster we are also changing our habits. Talking about
television, there would have been a television in the entire locality and everyone used to sit and
watch it at the same time, whereas today it is the age of OTT where every person has a smart phone
in which he can watch any kind of content anytime. Amidst all this, the dominance of watching
movies in the cinema hall has always remained. But now this domination is suspected. the theatrical
release of all major films has been indefinitely postponed. But OTT platforms are buzzing with
activity. Especially after the lockdown in India, with the OTT channel gaining such a large number of
viewers, people have gained a new kind of viewing experience, which can be said if it continues after
this So there will be a lot of concern for cinema hall owners.

According to the Global Web Index report, India's streaming market is one of the biggest and fastest-
growing in the world with biggies like Voot, AltBalaji, Zee5 and MX Player. The country's video
market is valued at over $700 million and is expected to grow to $2.4 billion by 2023, with the OTT
industry projected to have the highest growth. A trend of people viewing multiple content channels
at the same time, along with demand for newer and more exclusive content will force the big
budgets producers and directors to release movies directly onto the OTT channels rather than
Cinema halls. In the lockdown period, quality content on OTT platforms is in great demand. It
provides more variety in OTT channels and so in future this dynamic watching experience will affect
the cinema hall footfalls. This study also explores, how the viewership behaviour of the people has
changed due to this uncertain time.

With the day by day development in technology these industries are being improved at a fast pace.
There have been both, cases of cut- throat competition and cases which showed that companies
which want to create goodwill in the market. The entertainment industry is unpredictable as the
main profits depend upon the TRP of a particular television channel, or the box office collection of
some movie, etc. The number of OTT players increased from just 32 in 2018 to 95 in 2020 (including
video, music, podcast and audio streaming category). In 2020, the OTT industry in India achieved
phenomenal growth and saw a 30 percent rise in paid subscribers from 22.2 million to 29 million. It
is also witnessed that the average time spent by Indian users on OTT platforms has increased by 30-
60%.

LITERATURE REVIEW

[ CITATION Pat20 \l 1033 ]

According to [ CITATION Pat20 \l 1033 ], today we are going through a period of lockdown, which the
people of India have never seen before, for such a long time. In such a situation, in the era of
technology and the Internet, anyone likes to spend their free time in front of digital screen. The ever-
increasing viewership of the OTT video streaming services is the big star’s inclination towards this
platform justifies it. As the cinema halls shut down and film releases have been suspended amid
nationwide, this technological shift by internet has created new kind of viewing experience that might
end up changing the collective movie watching experience. Their thesis tries to analyze the impact of
increasing OTT video streaming services viewership in lockdown to assess the future of collective
watching experience in India.

[ CITATION Sun20 \l 1033 ]

According to [ CITATION Sun20 \l 1033 ], OTT platforms once considered a luxury is today a
commodity. In India, there is a growing number of consumers adopting to it. While Indian streaming
services like Hotstar and JioCinema have gained a stronger foothold, global players like Netflix and
AmazonPrime have steadily grown their market share in India. The reasons include changing
technology, increasing use of internet, pricing and availability of personalized content.

[ CITATION Kau20 \l 1033 ]

According [ CITATION Kau20 \l 1033 ] there has been a surge of 80 % in the subscriber base of OTT
players amid the lock down. Staying at home has left them with no other option for entertainment
than watching TV and digital. With the cinema halls close, people started looking for the option like
OTT platforms. According to research a huge surge in the subscriber base of OTT players like ZEE5
(80% surge) and ALT Balaji (60% surge) is seen on the other side amazon and Netflix have refused to
reveal their figures. It was mentioned by the program head that the two major reasons for the
positive surge are the lockdown and the several initiatives taken by them for seamless
entertainment. They have also been experiencing growth in all of their key markets and
demographics. With the announcement of amazon on the much-hyped films like Gulabo Sitabo and
Shakuntala Devi biopic being released on OTT platform rather than cinema due to the lockdown
along with some other films it made clear the scope that OTT platforms now have in future.

[ CITATION Bas20 \l 16393 ]

The major purpose of this article is to give a brief idea about the relationship of TV and OTT in Indian
market and scope of it. India is the second largest market in Asia pacific region for the subscription
television. All sorts of content providing or entertainment platforms have rolled their eyes towards
the Indian market due to the promising scope of the Indian television market. With the relaxation in
the FDI to 100% in all the segments of the TV industry except the news and current affairs, all the
OTT players and content providers have started taking a keen interest in the Indian TV market. The
Indian market is a great place for not only the traditional OTT players but also big broadcasters who
stated their own OTT services. The only factor that these players need to consider is the average
price for cable and satellite subscription, which bites off a huge chunk from the revenues of the OTT
players.

[ CITATION Sha20 \l 16393 ]

The forceful shutting of multiplexes because of the ongoing crisis of Covid-19 has become a topic of
concern as the production houses are now releasing the content directly onto OTT platform directly.
INOX and PVR , both issued a public statement reacting to this issue. According to experts this is
solution to a short term need of the film industry which getting by financial difficulties. It is a win-win
situation for OTT players who needs fresh content and the filmmakers who had their production
ready but unable to release. However, this will not be a paradigm shift, in the long term, once things
return to normal. The cinema generate more revenue for the production houses compared to the
OTT platforms. Being this a vital factor, the films will hit the cinemas as earlier, once the market is
free from COVID-19 crisis. Matter of fact, there may be possibility to see a surge in multiplex services
for few days after the returning the things to normal.

[ CITATION Sin20 \l 16393 ]

According to this OTT platforms has experienced a surge in consumption and subscriber, impacted
by the COVID-19. According to the experts OTT services could grow further in upcoming days as the
television channels run out of content. “As these channels have been unable to shoot due to
lockdown, they are running old content. In such a scenario people will gravitate towards OTT to
watch fresh content,” says Paritosh Joshi, media consultant To benefit from this increase in demand
platform such as Amazon Prime video and Zee5 have made few of their shows free to watch. To
benefit from this increase in demand platform such as Amazon Prime video and Zee5 have made few
of their shows free to watch. Thrillers, urban drama and young romance are the top performing
genres on the platform . The viewership for the movies has seen significant increase across the
platforms. Cinema streaming services MIBI has seen 28% rise in viewership on its platform in March,
compared to February.

[ CITATION Men20 \l 1033 ]

KPMG in India’s recently published report ‘COVID-19: The many shades of a crisis, a media
and entertainment perspective’ explores how the current situation might lead to a shift in
priorities among consumers and M&E players alike. There is likely to be a near term focus
on sustenance at current levels by companies. We may see a drastic fall in the
capex/investment cycle by companies, which could constrain supply and the growth of the
M&E industry in the near term. There could also be a renewed emphasis on flexibility, as
companies look to move to a variable cost model and reduce fixed costs. As this crisis has
shown, the ability to remain agile during downturns is a valuable asset. The trend of risk
aversion therefore will not just be confined to consumers but also organisations as we return
to ‘normalcy’ from our experience of this crisis.

[ CITATION Mis20 \l 1033 ]

As now a days people are restricted to their homes, their genre of media preferences is
changing. If the worldwide pandemic lasts long, it's the potential to vary the digital media
industry permanently . consistent with a recent report by BARC India and Nielsen, TV
viewing minutes per week has escalated by 8 per cent during the recent week compared to
the pre-Covid-19 period. The time spent on smartphones per user has gone up by 6.2
percent. However, it's the Over-the-top (OTT) media services which has made self-
quarantine bearable for several people and has made the utmost profit out of the self-
quarantine period. marketing research firm Nielsen said social media usage rose by 50 times
between January and March in India within the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. a crucial factor
which will determine the longer term of the media industry within the Post-COVID 19 World
is that the amount and type of diversification the industry does. With the present crisis
shaking the planet population, people want live updates on the present global pandemic,
which suggests that media must prepare a model to capture live events without the physical
operative system to back it up.

[CITATION ANO201 \l 1033 ]

According to a replacement survey that came out on Wednesday, quite 75 you look after
Indians have purchased new subscriptions for over-the-top (OTT) platforms during the
lockdown period There has been a definitive surge in Indians taking new subscription of
varied content streaming services and consistent with a replacement survey that came out
on Wednesday, quite 75 you look after Indians have purchased new subscriptions for over-
the-top (OTT) platforms during the lockdown period. The survey from marketing research
and analysis firm Velocity MR with alittle sample size of three ,000 respondents found that
73 which individuals stated watching Hot star and YouTube, while Amazon Prime and Netflix
saw a rise in subscription with 67% and 65%, respectively. Social media apps like WhatsApp
(92%), YouTube (84%), and Facebook (80%) were also saw a surge in usage during the
lockdown. "As no new daily soaps are being aired during the lockdown, 80 the well-liked
watching movies followed by National News (65 %)," Jasal Shah, director & CEO, Velocity
MR, said during a statement.

[ CITATION Pat20 \l 1033 ]

According to [ CITATION Pat20 \l 1033 ], today we are going through a period of lockdown, which the
people of India have never seen before, for such a long time. In such a situation, in the era of
technology and the Internet, anyone likes to spend their free time in front of digital screen. The ever-
increasing viewership of the OTT video streaming services is the big star’s inclination towards this
platform justifies it. As the cinema halls shut down and film releases have been suspended amid
nationwide, this technological shift by internet has created new kind of viewing experience that might
end up changing the collective movie watching experience. Their thesis tries to analyze the impact of
increasing OTT video streaming services viewership in lockdown to assess the future of collective
watching experience in India.
[ CITATION Sun20 \l 1033 ]

According to [ CITATION Sun20 \l 1033 ], OTT platforms once considered a luxury is today a
commodity. In India, there is a growing number of consumers adopting to it. While Indian streaming
services like Hotstar and JioCinema have gained a stronger foothold, global players like Netflix and
AmazonPrime have steadily grown their market share in India. The reasons include changing
technology, increasing use of internet, pricing and availability of personalized content.

Objectives:
1) To find out and understand the increase in consumption of OTT platforms during pandemic.
2) To understand the future scope of the OTT platforms.
3) To study the shift in consumption from old entertainment to new.
4) This study will help OTT players and cinema hall owner’s in designing strategies to overcome
the OTT threat and also in identifying changing consumer needs

Problems and limitation of the study-

There are certain limitations of the tool which are as follows-

• Data collection was restricted as the medium of collection was google

forms. So, it lacked personal interaction.
•The authenticity of survey couldn’t be assured as people sitting at home
might fill the forms thoughtfully

HYPOTHESIS
 The OTT content consumption is shifting from niche to mass based and long
form content is gathering traction.

 The sudden breakout of pandemic like COVID-19 can affect these apps
negatively as viewers expect new content to watch but the shooting of
movie/web series is stopped.

 Small and medium film makers get a certain amount of revenue instead of the
risk of film getting flop on the box office which doesn’t make the OTT
platforms particular about their content. This can affect their viewership.
  Partnership with telecoms betting on big data can emerge OTT apps to reach a
fairly large and a mass user base as these telecoms are providing discounted
or free subscription offers to the mobile data users.

Ethical Issues

Informed Consent-

It is essential that prospective participants are able to make informed choices whether or not they wish
to participate in the survey. The ethical concern that rises is availability of limited or incorrect
information or wording the information in a way that would increase the chances of participation.

The researcher must inform the potential participant of the extent of the confidentiality, probable
benefits and risks, the freedom of choice to participate and the lack of negative consequence on denial
of participation. To ensure that potential participants are well informed, a consent box would be
provides before accessing the survey and the page would include all the necessary information
required to make an informed decision. The software systems used will be such that would allow
access to survey only after verification.

Privacy, anonymity & confidentiality-

While collecting data online, the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the respondents is collected
automatically which can help in identifying and geographical location of respondent and thereby
his/her identity. This undermines respondents privacy and anonymity.

While collecting the data, the IP addresses would be stripped from the data set before the information
in saved in researcher’s computer.

Research instrument
After preparing the questionnaires for the selected sample with the guidance of
our mentor, it will be handed over to him. If he suggests some changes it will be
done accordingly. Once the questionnaire will be approved, it will be circulated
through Google Forms amongst the decided age group that are the viewers who
use these applications.
Sampling design and Sampling size
Sample design doubt (quantitative methods )
The study is conducted for the people who watch OTT for the entertainment.
The age group selected is 14-45+.Since most of the participants from this age
group were independent, indulging in anything they wish for is easier. Because
of their entertainment consumption habits they are aware of the research topic
selected.