Releasing Movies Directly on OTT An Experiment Say Indian Multiplexes

Movies on OTT India experiment
Radhe, an Indian film starring Bollywood actor Salman Khan was a “big experiment” says Kamal Gianchandani, chief executive officer at PVR Pictures, the film production and distribution arm of the PVR Group. Gianchandani in the fourth-quarter earnings call on June 2, 2021, said that Radhe was the “first big film to go the pay-per-view route” in the country. However, the PVR Pictures CEO said that the pay-per-view (PPV) model is “not a popular platform” in India and that Radhe “experiment has not worked.” In the second week of May, Radhe, the “much-awaited” movie was released on Zee5, the over-the-top (OTT) streaming platform run by Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE) and Zeeplex, Zee’s PPV service. In the week ahead of the Radhe release, Zee5 unveiled a “Radhe Combo” package that offered users one year Zee5 subscription along with “Radhe Zeeplex ticket” for Rs 499.

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PPV Model “Widely Accepted” in US, Europe

Gianchandani said the Indian market has been “fairly insulated” as compared to the western markets despite select films releasing directly on streaming platforms.

“Unlike the US and European market, where pay-per-view is widely accepted and there are experiments in the past which have worked quite decently,” Gianchandani said in the fourth-quarter earnings call. “India, unfortunately, is not in that category. I would only end this point by saying that it is unlikely that any other big film would adopt this experiment or this route going forward.”

The PVR Pictures CEO said that the country is not a “homogenous market” like the US as the multiplex owners “depend on Hollywood films” along with the “Hindi film industry” and regional film industries.