Harshil Lakhtariya – BAFM202008040
Dhvani Prashant Morparia – BAFM202008011
State of Entertainment Industry During and Post Covid
The outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic has hugely affected all the industries
with music and entertainment industry being no exception. With the
announcement of the lockdown all public gatherings and places such as
theaters, cinemas, music festivals, and concerts had been prohibited. The
Bollywood industry was hit almost immediately as movie theatres across the
country were closed and major releases were delayed. Consequences of the
pandemic on these industries could range from lowered attendance at film
festivals and music concerts, disruptions in film distribution to delayed or
cancelled movie releases and curtailed on-location film shoots. Financial issues
will likely be felt by production houses, music labels, filmmakers, artists, and
theatre owners for those of whom live performances/shootings were the major
source of income. Even now, after the lifting of the lockdown major social
distancing norms are to be followed in theatres, live events, plays and fests.
Due to the fear of the disease, number of people attending such events has
decreased, and furthermore due to the social distancing norms, even lesser
people can attend these events at the same time. This means that even after
theatres start functioning the earnings will not be as much as they were pre-
covid.
A report from Brandequity.com from the Economic Times states that
“Media and entertainment (M&E) industry in India has the potential to reach
$100 billion (about Rs 6.5 lakh crore) by 2025 provided it gets enabling
infrastructure and proper on government support.” Now this ‘digital billion’
trajectory is expected to accelerate significantly by virtue of the lockdown with
not just the addition of new users but also increasing comfort and confidence of
the existing digital citizenry. Online gaming consumption will likely become
even more popular with younger populations, while older people will likely
favour traditional TV content. The demand for OTT originals, which was
identified as a competitive differentiator in our report, should restore and
players can be expected to gradually roll out original, targeted content for
specific audiences once the lockdowns start to ease.
Below is a graph showing the increase in the usage of OTT platform for the
years 2018-2023(predicted). There is a clear rise in the consumption of digital
content and according to predictions will continue to rise in the coming years .
So it is clear that OTT platforms will have to gear up their strategies even more
to boost their performances. Some parameters they would have to work on are
given below.
Subscription services must increase focus on their customer service.
Entertainment brands in this world face increased competition and will have to
fight hard to show why their subscription is worth the money. The good news is
that great content will be amplified by consumers. If the quality is there, it’ll be
celebrated online. It will be interesting to see which platforms weather the
storm in another five years. In order to do so, they’ll need premium content,
modest prices, and new content creators in their ranks.
More streaming Consolidation. Consolidating platforms also involves
acquiring additional content which, in turn, opens the window for an increased
monthly subscription rate. This could also potentially save consumers money –
after all, one expensive subscription is still probably cheaper than two separate
standard ones.
Earlier, people used to be eager to watch new movies on the big screen . They
still are, but now, they are willing to wait until they are released on or
purchased by the OTT Platforms. Many of the popular streaming apps such as
Netflix and Amazon Prime are now buying digital rights to the highest-earning
films more than ever. Youngsters play a vital role in the success of Streaming
Apps. The reason is that they want interesting, engaging and relatable content
which OTT Platforms can provide. Here, they can choose to watch anything at
anytime and anywhere, which is not the case with Movie Theatres.
Now, many of the producers choose to release their small budget films directly
on OTT Platforms. Releasing films with a low budget and less familiar names
on the big screen gets a little difficult. Also, at times it gets hard to find a
release date for a film due to limited cinema screens in India. Thus, to cut the
cost of printing and advertising, and avoiding the struggle of release dates,
releasing them on OTT platforms seems better.
Revenues from the theatre release of a film still form a large part of its earnings.
But, now with films releasing on OTT Platforms after their theatre release, it
benefits them both. Producers can earn more revenue, and OTT Platforms get
more subscribers.
Speaking about the content, in a particular state in India, Theatres majorly
release movies only in English, Hindi, and the regional language. Only a few
movies of other languages are released. Whereas on OTT platforms we can
access content of all languages right from Telugu Serials to K Dramas . So now
that filmmakers outside of India, see the statistics of foreign content being
consumed in India, they are more likely to produce such content.
