Throughout the pandemic, many businesses have suffered economic loss. And, although few, there are businesses that have thrived amidst the crisis. One such industry is the OTT platforms, and 2020 was a crucial year for them.
Over-the-top (OTT media service) refers to streaming media service provided to viewers with the aid of the Internet. The term can be best used to describe subscription-based video-on-demand (SVoD) services such as Netflix, Disney Plus, and Amazon Prime to name a few. They allow access to film and TV content; both new and existing.
During the pandemic, with the cinemas closed, live telecasting was brought down to a bare minimum, as viewers looked towards the OTT platforms for their share of entertainment. This lockdown brought about an eruption in the demand of OTT platforms. An immense amount of hype was created around the content provided by the streaming services. The OTT platforms were ready to adapt, and taking advantage of the situation, invested heavily in generating new content for the people confined to their homes. With the cinemas closed, even the film distributors had to give in to the OTT platforms, which led to a plethora of digital film releases. High budget films such as Extraction; visually exciting shows such as the Mandalorian- 2020 was filled with compelling media available on these streaming services, and viewers were allured towards these platforms.
While Covid-19 is a key factor in leading the explosion of these services, there are other reasons too. Convenience plays a huge role in leading to the success of OTT. Users feel comfortable with these platforms, as they can watch whatever they like, whenever they like. They are not bound by any time restrictions as is the case with television. They can watch what they want in their own comfort zone.
OTT in the comfort of one’s home
Another factor to the rise of these platforms is the variety of content provided by them. Users are inclined towards these as they are given the freedom to choose from a wide range of content available on these streaming services. TV shows, films, documentaries, belonging to all sorts of genres. This liberty is also not present in television or in cinemas.
Due to these reasons the OTT platforms had a boom in 2020. While pre-covid, Netflix did hold the monopoly, many platforms caught on during the pandemic and the industry turned into a profitable one as a whole. In fact, over-the-top (OTT) media revenue is expected to reach 158.84 billion dollars by 2024, which is twice the 67.8 billion generated in 2018. The service has experienced massive growth over the eight years, with an exponential growth in revenues from 6.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2010 to over ten times that amount in 2018.
The future looks very bright for these platforms. The fact that Warner Bros. decided to release all of their upcoming films in 2021 simultaneously on the big screen as well as digitally is a sign. A sign that OTT and the big screen do not need to compete with each other. And that they can ‘co-exist’ in the upcoming future.
