Mumbai: The OTT business in India is buzzing with new streamers, niche, and language offerings. However, early players are struggling as heavy content spending isn't matching revenues, and India-specific low pricing hasn't spurred subscriptions. Growth has plateaued as consumers return to post-COVID normalcy, preferring to binge occasionally.

Adding to the churn is the shift towards AVOD by giants like JioCinema, offering premium events like cricket for free, with Disney+Hotstar following suit. This has strained streaming bottom lines. The rise of FAST channels is also causing industry jitters. Vidnet explored the future of the streaming ecosystem.

The session head for this panel was Publicis Groupe India managing partner & head of Publicis Commerce India Anshul Garg along with other panelists: travelxp CEO Tanay Chothani, Planetcast COO - Digital Venugopal Iyengar and Prime Focus Technologies senior VP, Sales & BD-APAC Anupam Sharma.

Garg discussed technological advancements in the OTT industry, also opening the session to the panelist on how improvements in video streaming, such as high-definition video, low-latency streaming, and adaptive bitrate streaming, significantly enhance the quality and reliability of the customer streaming experience.

Sharma noted the nature of localisation. He noted that language localisation enhances content accessibility, with AI playing a crucial role in text localisation while experiments continue for voice localisation.

Chothani said the importance of delivering substantial value swiftly, is driven by decreasing customer attention spans and rapid innovation.

Lastly, Iyengar highlighted the rapid advancements in viewer experience. He pointed out that platforms like Amazon are at the forefront, leveraging innovations such as multicam views and second-screen interactions to enhance viewer engagement.