The world has just started recovering from the deadly Covid-19 virus, even though it is a thing to be happy about, there are still sectors that are trying to rise including the entertainment industry (movie productions, theaters, film cities) from the hard hit by the pandemic.

What happened to the Cinema theaters of India?

India cinemas, with 6780 single screens and 2,100 multiplexes, is going through dark months amid the Covid-19 pandemic. This pandemic has resulted in the death of more than 40% of the single screens across the nation. Even though, the theaters nation-wide have implemented rules and regulations to minimize the danger by separated seats with 50% occupancy and encouraging digital payments. It would not be right to mention that the theater halls are full, as there are still large groups of people in the country who are hesitant to step inside cinema halls. Contrast to this, cinema lovers feel heartbroken to stare at empty cinema halls. It is predicted by many that most of the theater halls wouldn’t be able to survive the pandemic, in other words, many theaters will go missing when the pandemic comes to an end. This great fall of theaters has led many stars of the cinema industry to go for OTT release of their movies.

Rise of OTT Platforms in India

The fall of movie theater industry has led to the tremendous growth of Over The Top platforms in India. The situation has not only made top actors run behind OTT platforms but has also made cinema lovers to subscribe to OTT platforms craving for new releases. Hence making the whole movie watching experience easier and more comfortable. Just a click, would start a movie. Letting the audience themselves set the ambience for the movie watching experience at home. OTT platforms let the audience to control the volume and go back and forth in the movie, which makes the movie-watching experience being more ‘customized’. The year 2020 has seen a growth of OTT platforms by 60% followed by 20% growth in the first 4 months of 2021.In the year2020, the revenue from subscriptions for OTT platforms in India stands at 19 billion INR. “We are stuck” says Ekta Kapoor, a famous producer from the North Indian Television Industry. Producers have got no choice other than opting for an OTT release rather than releasing their movies in a half-filled screen. The business is favorable for the producer when the movie is streamed on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video or Hotstar, as the money is made with no prolonged worries. Although, top stars of the film industry are against the idea of streaming their movies on OTT Platforms they have to do it for the sake of the producer who invested crores on the project.

Amazon Firestick

Amazon Firestick, also known as Amazon Fire TV, is a famous Indian micro-console developed by Amazon. It is an USB-like device used to stream videos and movies via internet, connected to the HD television. The firestick includes a remote to access. With more than 50 million users currently, it was released in India on April 19, 2017. It was introduced with 1080p and 4k picture quality along with Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 Surround Sound System.
Amazon firestick created huge waves in the OTT industry by making users get access to watch their favorite movies more comfortably. The major perk of this gadget is that it is an user-friendly device which means, it can be understood and used easily by any age group. This feature made Firestick make millions in the market. As more than 70% of the elders in the country spend most of their time on watching television shows, producing a user-friendly gadget like Firestick will tempt the costumers to buy the product as easier accessibility is the important feature most of the people look forward to. Amazon firestick includes YouTube, which covers the kids and teenagers. India is currently emerging as the fastest growing market for Amazon’s firestick. As most of the content on the platforms are in Hindi and other local languages like Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada there is a stronger engagement in India than other countries. Now the next big step from the company is that Amazon Fire TV is looking forward to collaborate with local companies to have the system pre-built into televisions. This would let the audience to watch their favorite local channel shows on smart TV.