ARE OTT PLATFORMS OVERTAKING MOVIE THEATRES?

“The cinema has no boundary; it is a ribbon of dream.” – Orson Welles
Movies are one of the biggest parts of a person’s life, at least it is in mine. Despite of having school the next day or not, my parents always took me to the theatres for a late night show ever since I was 3. Just like me, many people have amazing memories connected to movie theatres. Other than emotional value, it also holds a large amount of economical value. In 2019 alone, global box office revenues hit an all-time high, totalling to $42 billion. On top of that, the consumption of movies is facing a constant rise in India. People have enough passion and love for films (like myself) and more than enough content to watch. Movie theatres have been a great source of income for a long time.
But, ever since the global coronavirus pandemic started, the film industry was one of the hardest hit. In India, nearly 10,000 cinema halls closed in March of 2020. The covid-19 crisis disrupted the entire chain, from production and distribution to consumption of content as the consumer’s confidence in physical ventures dwindled. But, while all this was happening, players in the over-the-top (OTT) space took to releasing new content on their platforms to increase the stickiness of their consumers.

What are OTT platforms and streaming apps?
Over the top platforms and streaming Apps is a streaming media service that provides users with a wide variety of multi-media creation. It offers content through broadcast, internet cable and satellite television platforms. With people’s changing lifestyles and increase use of smartphones with affordable internet services, OTT platforms are getting more popular.
Due to the pandemic and the closing down of cinema theatres due to the covid restrictions, OTT platforms and streaming apps have taken many steps to gain popularity and widen their base in India. Over the past year many streaming apps have launched and they have created content of varies genres. Many streaming apps offer shows and movies on local languages. They team up with local production companies and as a result, make their movies and web series.

But, are OTT platforms overtaking movie theatres?
To begin with, let us compare the two. 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 platform. Many of the popular streaming apps such as Netflix and Amazon prime are now buying digital rights to the highest earning since more than ever.
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 a big screen is difficult. Also, at times it gets hard to find a good release date for a film due to limited cinema screens in India. Thus, to cut the costs of printing and advertising, and avoiding the struggle of release dates, releasing them on streaming Apps seems better. Revenues from the theatre release of the 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.
Now, due to the war between OTT platforms versus movie theatres there are a lot of challenges for movie theatres. To stay in the competition and fight against the OTT platforms, movie theatres need to keep offering some new elements to the viewers. Movie theatres need to focus on providing special effects content to the viewers such as IMAX, 4DX etc to attract the audience. They should also cut the prices of the food that is provided at these theatres (a person who can buy one medium bucket of cheese popcorn can also buy one month of Netflix subscription with the SAME AMOUNT) as viewers are getting more content on lower prices on OTT platforms.
Even though OTT platforms challenge movie theatres, it can never erase them from Indian entertainment industry. Movie theatres have been facing competition for a long time now in the past that all competitors have been the television, the VCR and also DVDs (CDs)- yet they still remain tall and strong and hold their position in the audience’s heart. Even though OTT platforms provide a lot of options and benefits, it is hard for them to take movie theatres place in India. Therefore as far as the future is concerned for movies and entertainment in India, it looks like OTT platforms and movie theatres can exist together.