Over-the-top (OTT) platforms have seen a huge spike in subscribers addition since 2020. The pandemic has fuelled the growth of digital services, and right at the top were OTT platforms to benefit from this. Many people have already started shifting to OTT platforms for everyday entertainment content, including news, TV shows, and movies. Amazon even offers Prime Music with the Prime subscription. However, if you are thinking that traditional TV services (cable and satellite) are going to go out of trend, that day is very far.
50% Of Media & Entertainment Sector Revenues Came from Traditional TV Services
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) data, in 2020, 50% of the Media & Entertainment (M&E) sector revenues came from traditional TV services. Compared to this, only 14% of the revenues are from digital services, which includes OTT.
The adoption of OTT platforms and them replacing traditional TV services will require higher broadband penetration in India, but that is a discussion for some other day. In 2020, the Indian Television industry stood at Rs 68,500 crore. It was a sharp fall from Rs 78,800 crore in 2019. The fall can be credited to the coronavirus pandemic. But in 2021, this figure should have definitely recovered.
Because of this, even the advertising revenues for the industry feel. However, in 2021, even the advertising revenues should grow because of more and more people getting vaccinated and the economy opening up.
There will definitely be a time when the OTT platforms will completely rule over the TV industry, but that won’t be anytime soon. It will still take a lot of time for that to happen because of multiple reasons. It will take even more time for the OTT platforms to register their superiority in the rural parts of the country. In 2021, the growth of revenues from digital services should increase significantly because of the continuation of the pandemic.
