Full stream ahead: The OTT boom in India

Kharikrishnan, a late riser on the weekends, was up by 7:00 am on December 5, last year. The law student from Mumbai binge-watched ‘Delhi Crime’, the Netflix show based on the 2012 Delhi gang rape case. After a short break, he got hooked on the Spanish drug drama ‘Narcos’. At zero cost, he was entertained for two days.

With the Covid-19 pandemic changing our leisure practices, it was a masterstroke from Netflix to host the ‘StreamFest’ in India. In a simple procedure, people registered using their email address or mobile number and dived into the streaming giant’s world of innumerable shows. The overflowing enrollers forced Netflix to extend the extravaganza to four days.

“Everybody talks about Netflix. They talk about its shows. When an opportunity like this arrived, I decided to watch my favourite shows legally. Because illicit websites pose the threat of virus attack and the constant advertisements can irritate you,” says Harikrishnan.

The offer influenced him to open a Netflix account. “Netflix’s partnership with my mobile service provider meant that I just had to upgrade my mobile’s postpaid plan to get free access to the website on my phone,” he says. Analytics firm Apptopia announced that the ‘StreamFest’ resulted in eight lakh mobile downloads of the Netflix app in India. The streaming service wrapped up 2020 on a promising note with 4.6 million paid Indian subscribers, said a report from Media Partners Asia. Deccan Herald