Streaming platforms at crossroads on regional content

While the acquisition of tent-pole Tamil and Telugu films remains a priority, a significant shift toward regional language originals could still be some time away with subscriptions and advertising having plateaued and as traditional TV and theatrical medium remain dominant in these markets, industry experts said.

According to a report by media consulting firm Ormax, the Indian OTT market is at stages of evolution across languages, with the Hindi market being at least three to four years ahead on product life cycle compared to the southern languages. 

The number of subscription video-on-demand or SVoD web series released in Hindi in 2022 was more than double that of the combined total for all four southern languages. 

Driven by a strong culture of movie-going, the OTT journey of south Indian markets has been fuelled by film content, rather than by long-format web series, the report said.

“A lot of OTT platforms are beginning to invest significantly in regional content since they have saturated their audience base in major metros and have realised that it isn’t enough to simply dub content," said Niyati Merchant, co-founder and chief operating officer at Arré, a content company. “However, there might be some hesitance within the talent ecosystem in the south since they are quite besotted with the theatrical medium."

The mindset is changing, albeit slowly because the star worship culture is far stronger in the south and actors and directors are increasingly leaning towards pan-India acceptance given the spate of southern films that have found acceptance via Hindi dubbed versions, Merchant said. 

At a time like this, the OTT ecosystem may still be a year or two away from top names signing up for streaming originals, though the intent is definitely there as far as platforms go.

To be sure, the bet on regional language programming comes amid a relatively subdued OTT subscription and advertising environment. “Plus, there is competition from a lot of local players focusing on individual languages in specific markets," said Karan Taurani, senior vice president at Elara Capital Ltd.

Ranjana Mangla, head of ad revenue at SonyLIV said a limited digital advertising ecosystem in regional markets poses a challenge, and a lot of work will go into educating them about the benefits of collaborating on OTT originals.

The platform that is betting big on regional language originals and bringing out Tamil and Telugu versions of its show MasterChef India, sees great appetite among audiences that are already watching a lot of content dubbed from Hindi into regional languages.

Disney+ Hotstar too is going aggressive on the southern originals market. It has launched 20 specials in the south and five south originals – Save The Tigers and Shaitan in Telugu, KCF in Malayalam and KKK and Label in Tamil. These have emerged as success stories in terms of subscription, retention and engagement. 

Save The Tigers Season 2 which was launched recently went on to become the most-watched scripted special ever in Telugu for the platform, while KKK Season 2 outperformed season one by 50%. The service is collaborating with names like Jeethu Joseph, Maari Selvaraj, Manikandan, Vijay Sethupathi, Nivin Pauly and Suraj Venjaramoodu, among others, for upcoming projects. 

“We have seen an increase in engagement for non-Hindi titles on the platform and have bolstered our funnel across languages," said Manish Kalra, chief business officer, ZEE5 India. 

The platform has seen success with regional language originals such as Abar Proloy (Bengali) which is also available in Hindi, Ayali (Tamil) which is available in Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, and Bengali, besides Koose Munisamy Veerappan, Ayali, and Sengalam, in Tamil and Vyavastha, Puli Meka, and Maya Bazaar For Sale in Telugu.

"Quality content is language agnostic; it always finds its audience and appreciation. With OTT, the reach expands manifold, which is further amplified through localization and marketing initiatives," said Kalra.