REQUIEM OR REBIRTH?

TO AVOID BECOMING A NOSTALGIC FOOTNOTE IN THE EVER-CHANGING MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT SAGA, DIRECT-TO-HOME PLAYERS IN INDIA ARE SEEKING NEW RELEVANCE IN THE AGE OF DIGITAL AND PERSONAL CONTENT CONSUMPTION.

- Prerna Lidhoo

EVEN MILLENNIALS WILL recall—perhaps not Generation Z as much—the Sunday morning or primetime evening rush to grab that coveted spot on the living room couch. Everyone milling around the television set to watch the entertainment du jour. After all, till a decade ago, media consumption was a family or collective activity, playing out on the best and biggest screen in the house.

This scenario is folklore-ish now. As the number of screens has increased—and the cost of streaming decreased—so has the trend towards personal viewing. “I can watch, pause, and play at my own convenience. I am not stuck to an immobile position while consuming my content. That’s a great advantage,” points out 30-year-old digital marketer Saurabh Gupta, who does not remember the last time he watched television. “It might have been some 12 years ago.”

It isn’t just the hardware driving this structural (and cultural) shift. According to a recent PwC report, ‘Global Entertainment & Media Outlook’, data consumption in India will only grow as mobile connections reach 850 million people by 2022, making India one of the 10 largest video streaming markets. Add cheap data to the picture and, experts suggest, traditional TV viewing seems fated to become a relic of the past—at least for the urban market.

A study called ‘Unravelling the digital video consumer: Looking through the viewer lens’ by KPMG in India and OTT (over-the-top) platform Eros Now ominously notes that “while the intent to cut the cord may not translate into doing so eventually, more than a third of the respondents are willing to actively consider it”. It emphasises the rapid growth digital video has made, and the threat that traditional video distribution could face in the long run, it says.