Year Ender 2021: Big bets in place on regional content growth spurt 

The boom in creation and consumption of digital regional language content on audio and video OTT platforms witnessed in 2021 is likely to strengthen in the new year as the next round of mobile internet users is expected to come from India’s smaller cities and towns, and streaming players are keen to get a slice of the pie.

India, a country of 1.3 billion people, currently has more than 700 million mobile internet users and telecom companies are expanding their infrastructure deeper into India to get the remaining 500-600 million users on smartphones.  
 
“Digital adoption has leapfrogged 4-5 years during Covid and most people are coming from smaller towns,” Vikram Mehra, MD of India’s oldest music label Saregama India, had told Business Today. A FICCI-EY report estimated that by 2025, 50 per cent of the total time spent on OTT platforms will be to consume regional content. Elara Capital SVP and research analyst Karan Taurani estimated that almost 50-60 per cent of new shows being produced today are in regional languages, and this number three years ago was not more than 20 per cent.

To keep up with the demand, platforms are also betting big on regional content, especially in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi and Bengali. After investing Rs 3,000 crore in the past two years, Netflix plans to invest more in India. The southern languages have especially been attracting interest, including from larger video OTT players, with Netflix even launching a separate Twitter handle for the region. Amazon Prime Video has taken a big share of the southern market, virtually becoming the digital home for Malayalam films. Industry insiders estimate the tech giant has spent Rs 120-150 crore on films during the pandemic.

Disney+ Hotstar and SonyLIV have also been announcing original films and shows in south Indian languages. Zee5 is planning to expand its slate of Telugu and Tamil originals in the coming months and has also recently added Punjabi content to its platform. The platform has also announced that 30-40 per cent of its total content investment will be allocated to regional content.  

Saregama is investing in regional content for both its music label and film production businesses. “There’s a substantial investment we are making across all leading Indian languages. We are aggressively acquiring regional music also from Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Bhojpuri, Bengali and Gujarati,” Mehra had told Business Today earlier.

India’s OTT market, home to more than 40 significant players, is heating up with a dozen or so regional players entering the fray over the past 18 months. They are also increasing their content offerings and investments for 2022, keen to compete with deep-pocketed rivals for their slice of the pie. Bengali entertainment production company SVF-backed Hoichoi has lined up 20 new original shows for 2022. Telugu platform Aha is foraying into the Tamil market. Meanwhile, these platforms along with Gujarati peer OHO are also experimenting with branded content collaborations, syndicating original content dubbed into other languages, and selling subscriptions through retail channels to shore up revenues.

“We are seeing a lot more advertiser interest in the regional audiences. There is a big demand from many, many sectors, whether it's automobiles, FMCG, white goods or telecom. They are increasing their focus on those markets because a lot of the larger metro market seems to be getting saturated. You will see a lot more advertising money also shifting to those markets,” said EY partner (media & entertainment advisory services) Ashish Pherwani. He added that given India is home to 10-12 major languages which can each support one, if not two, regional players, there’s space for more regional OTT players to join the fray.

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