Sun TV Network’s intentions to invest Rs 150-200 crore in its OTT platform Sun NXT have been put on hold once more, with Group CFO SL Narayanan stating that there are no plans to invest in original OTT programming until at least March 2022. The OTT platform has 24.5 million customers, mostly because to inorganic bundles with telecom companies.
For the last two years, the South Indian network behemoth has been deferring planned expenditures in original programming in favour of streaming its vast library of TV and film content. Before moving into OTT originals, management has stated that their priority is to finish a few of big-ticket under-production projects that have been delayed owing to Covid.
“There isn’t a single OTT platform that performs at the margins we do. With essentially no investment in new material and the use of recycled content, we’ve grown to almost 24.5 million users. We’ve also seen that whenever we add new movies on Sun NXT, the original subscribers who are joining organically rather than through OTT offers increase.
The format will be halfway between movies and TV serials when the firm decides to invest in original OTT content, maybe after April 2022. It will run concurrently with investments in movies and regular fiction and non-fiction television programmes, he noted.
Narayanan also did not rule out working with Amazon Prime Video, which recently added eight more streaming applications to its platform in a drive to become a one-stop shop for all things OTT. He stated it would depend on the advertising, the context, and the scenario, before emphasising that no such negotiations are currently underway.
