OTT platforms see increased viewership and new sign ups

Chennai: As work from home becomes the norm, and social entertainment — like movie halls — shuts, increasing number of people are turning to online video consumption.

While, MX Player has witnessed a 2X increase in OTT viewership, companies such as Zee5 and VOOT are seeing an increase in new sign ups.

Karan Bedi, CEO - MX Player observed, “With the health advisory in place, Indians are increasingly turning to the digital realm to fulfill their dose of digital entertainment.” While video consumption on OTT platforms is higher, there is a jump in consumption on TVs rather than mobiles. “Interestingly, we have seen a jump of over 10% in the consumption of our original content and over 5% for TV content via connected devices like Amazon Fire Stick and on Smart TVs,” said Tarun Katial, CEO, ZEE5 India

Video Analytics firm Vidooly sees a 20% jump in video consumption on OTT platforms in the last 10 days. A report from Nokia shows that an average user spends 70 minutes a day on OTT platforms on a regular day.

Besides the spike in viewership, the platforms are also seeing an increase in subscription numbers. Zee5 reports that their new subscriptions are up by over 10% compared to the previous weekend. Another OTT platform VOOT, which recently introduced VOOT select earlier this month is seeing 3x increase in their subscription numbers compared to their projections.

“People have a lot more time to consume videos and therefore they are watching videos across all digital platforms. If the current situation continues for prolonged period of time, it will lead to people gravitating towards new content on OTT platforms,” said Ferzad Palia, head - Voot Select.

“In the era of social distancing and limiting exposure to the external world, consumers and viewers are turning to forms of digital entertainment and Eros Now is playing it’s part. We have seen an increase of 100% on registered users and now touching 200% increase in paid subscribers on a daily basis,” said Ali Hussein, CEO, Eros Now.

Keeping with the spike in demand, firms are expanding features to keep their audience engaged. Netflix has launched Netflix Party that helps users watch shows together from remote locations.


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