India's box office is booming again, but that cheer isn’t quite spilling over into the market for films’ streaming, satellite and other ancillary rights.
The cumulative box office for January to June 2026 releases was ₹6,398 crore, making it the highest-grossing first half of any year after the pandemic, surpassing 2025 by nearly ₹650 crore. While this spark should have ideally resulted in greater enthusiasm for selling ancillary rights such as OTT and satellite TV, given that most broadcasters and streaming platforms look at box office as a benchmark, industry experts say there is still caution on that front.
According to trade experts, streaming and satellite rights fell by an estimated 50% and 70-80%, respectively post the peak of the pandemic, when content demand was at an all-time high. That trend hasn't reversed yet.
Platform economics are tighter than they were three or four years ago, and every buyer, whether a music label, a streamer or a broadcaster, has learnt to link value to demonstrated audience love rather than promise. A few hits raise the ceiling, but consistency is what will raise the floor, and the industry is not there yet, according to filmmakers and studio executives.
“A successful theatrical run improves negotiating leverage, particularly because several streaming deals are now linked to box-office performance. However, it has not restored the earlier pre-sale market," said Rohit Dalmia, chairman and managing director of CineNow, an entertainment financing platform. "Large films with stars, scale and proven audience demand remain easier to monetize, while mid-budget and smaller films increasingly need theatrical validation or a clear platform fit.”
Digital and satellite-rights values have remained under pressure as buyers prioritize profitability, said Dalmia. “Buyers are interested, although they are far more selective. Platforms increasingly want performance-linked pricing, broadcasters assess television suitability, and music labels focus on repeat consumption rather than the number of songs. Strong box office helps, yet it does not automatically guarantee premium ancillary valuations,” he further pointed out.
Films such as Main Vaapas Aaunga and Pati Patni Aur Woh Do that did fair business at the box office, only managed conservative deals.
To be sure, the entire media and entertainment ecosystem has become significantly more cautious in its investment decisions, according to industry experts. Global economic uncertainty, domestic market dynamics and the rapid evolution of technology have all influenced spending behaviour. Every buyer today is far more focused on return on investment than simply acquiring content for scale.
“At the same time, entertainment itself is becoming increasingly fragmented. Audiences today have far more choices—from creator-led content and gaming to AI-generated content—which means every stakeholder is competing for a share of the same consumer attention. Naturally, broadcasters, music labels and streaming platforms have become much more selective before committing significant capital,” said Narendra Hirawat, chairman, NH Studioz that specializes in content acquisition and distribution.
“The days of broadcasters or OTT platforms bidding irrationally for every film are over. Platforms are far more selective, evaluating projects on content, commercial potential and audience fit rather than simply the production house, director or star cast. Some platforms have reduced acquisition budgets altogether, while others are focusing only on carefully curated titles,” Hirawat added. Industry consolidation, mergers and changing consumption patterns have also slowed the market.
At the peak of the pandemic, when people were homebound, big star films were commanding upwards of ₹150 crore for OTT deals even before they went on floors, as per trade experts. Those prices have now rationalized.
Music holds sway
That said, as far as individual categories go, music remains one of the stronger ancillary categories because a successful soundtrack can generate value across streaming, social media, licensing and catalogue exploitation. Reported tentpole deals are reaching ₹50–75 crore, although these are exceptional and may involve advances or multi-film structures. For most films, pricing depends on the composer, label, genre, marketing plan and potential longevity of the album.
For context, in the early days of audio streaming, music deals were typically locked in for ₹30-40 crore.
Hirawat said the music rights market remains competitive because there are multiple buyers in the ecosystem. Music labels are still willing to invest early in promising projects, particularly when they see long-term streaming potential. As a result, music rights continue to command respectable values, although pricing has become far more rational than it was during the peak acquisition years.
What mantra works
Still, most industry experts point out that a strong quarter at the box office lifts sentiment, but it does not automatically lift valuations across the board. On one hand, there is a film like Dhurandhar, which reportedly commanded around ₹130 crore from a streaming platform for both parts. However, according to senior executives, that deal happened because the film was well made, music forward and genuinely loved by audiences, and the structure included a minimum guarantee with a box office linked component that proves how carefully platforms are engineering their risk even on the biggest titles.
On the other end, a film like Main Vaapas Aaunga did very respectable business worldwide on pure word of mouth, yet its reported digital deal was far more conservative.
“The honest answer is that ancillary rights in Bollywood are still a film-to-film business, not a trend driven one. So yes, the ceiling has gone up for true event films, but for everything else it remains a tough, title by title negotiation," said Kaushik Das, founder and chief executive of OTT platform AAO NXT. "Big openings driven by cast and franchise familiarity do not automatically translate into confident bids from satellite or streaming, because buyers today are evaluating the content itself, not just the brand on the poster.”