Hoichoi

Regional OTT: Reaching for the Skies

Under the current circumstances, there has been a massive demand for streaming services across the nation. The COVID crisis has just been a boon in disguise for most of these as they have witnessed more and more viewers coming to their platforms.

I think that in recent times most people have warmed up to the idea of a streaming platform or site in a nation that till date still relies heavily on T.V channels and film industries to bring the movies to the masses, and this used to create a monopoly of sorts with some regional industries and film feeling that they weren’t always given a fair shot.

Our nation has a lot of diversity, so it was only a matter of time before regional languages and content became relevant in this space too. This is evident with the fact that Hotstar has released its critically acclaimed Aarya in several regional languages as well.

The non-Hindi regional film industries have taken this chance and pounced on the opportunity to create content that directly touches a vein with the user who is viewing it in his local language. This is also a smart move with the more mature audience giving streaming sites a try as they are not always well versed with Hindi and English as their primary language.

‘Aha,’ a platform specializing in exclusively Telegu content, is creating ripples with its acquisition of quite a few acclaimed films like Jalikattu in the regional industry.

‘Hoichoi,’ which is a Bengali streaming platform, has reportedly notched up 13 million subscribers amid this pandemic, with their users spending an average of 1 hour on their platform every day. Not too shabby for a regional player, after all, is it? Seeing this new found want for regional cinemas, more streaming platforms are cropping up.

Akshay Bardapurkar, a Marathi Filmmaker, is launching has announced that he will be announcing his own OTT platform, which will be called ‘Planet Marathi’ that is exclusively devoted to Marathi and will cost as low as Rs 500 per year.

With demand at an all-time high and increasing demand for content, the OTT platform is certainly here to stay, and regional cinema and stories may finally be getting the appreciation and audience that they deserve. It may not be so easy, but these regional players can certainly aim for the stars now.