The importance of video content has been highlighted even more over the past year and a half, thanks to the pandemic and lockdowns and rapid uptake of consumption on digital outlets. Innovation has been forced upon creators as well as upon platforms that are showcasing the content courtesy these and rising competition, regionalization, and government-introduced content guidelines. How will these new forces transform the way content is created, stories are told, as well as impact the business models for the worlds of film, TV and OTT?
With theatres closed now thanks to the continuing pandemic, film studios are either holding on to their new releases or going direct to digital with them. The south did better than Hindi cinema in terms of box office collections on theatrical releases when things had opened up briefly for about three to four months. With productions stalled currently, and no signs when they will recommence, what is the way forward for the cinema sector. Will there be a change in the way the film producers and studios look at movies in terms of turnaround times, budgets, stories etc? A panel looks at the mindset.
Television continues to rule, with the loyal home viewer quite appreciating the fiction, drama, soaps, reality shows that broadcasters – both private and public- have been throwing at them. While there have been cuts in budgets, producers have learnt to function in biobubbles and have even moved out of locked down areas into other states in order to continue to roll out fresh episodes. Reacting to OTT content, TV shows are increasingly telling different stories. What lies in store?
The playing field has been clearly spelt out for the OTT platforms with the content rules broadly specifying that caution needs to be the order of the day when content is put on air. How are OTT platforms planning to be compliant with the rules in terms of stories, scenes, dialogues, sensitivity to various cohorts who can object to the content and yet tell different stories like they used to? What new genres are they looking at? What kind of producers?
Founder, CEO & Editor-In-Chief
Indian Television Dot Com Group
MD & President
PTC Network
