Facing OTT heat, DTH players' revenue continues to decline

Shift in preference for more flexible digital content options reason for fall

- ROSHNI SHEKHAR

India's direct-to-home (DTH) industry is facing a decline in revenue due to a shift in consumer preference for more flexible digital content options.

This comes after the combined revenue of four major DTH operators—Tata Play, Airtel Digital TV, Dish TV, and Sun Direct—fell from ₹12,284 crore in FY22 to ₹11,072 crore in FY23, according to Chandrasekhar Mantha, partner, media and entertainment leader, Deloitte India.

Tata Play, Airtel Digital TV, and Sun Direct did not respond to email queries sent by Business Standard.

Based on current trends, Pushan Sharma, director-research, CRISIL market intelligence and analytics, expects the revenue gap between DTH operators and over-the-top (OTT) platforms to further widen over the next two to three years.

"Before, people primarily watched TV through traditional DTH services, but the shift to hybrid models (mixing TV and streaming services like OTT) started before Covid and accelerated after the pandemic," Manoj Dobhal, chief executive officer (CEO) and executive director (ED), Dish TV, told Business Standard.

He added, "People now prefer to watch content wherever it is within their budget. TV ownership has increased, but the number of hours spent watching traditional TV has decreased. This is putting pressure on DTH revenues and subscribers."

Dobhal further said that it is not the subscribers who have gone away from the platform (DTH services).