According to a recent analysis by Ficci EY, viewership of English language and Hindi cinema TV networks fell by 18% and 20%, respectively, in 2021 compared to 2019. In 2021, the number of people watching movies on television declined by 9% compared to 2019.
According to media analysts, direct-to-digital film releases during the pandemic’s first two years resulted in lengthier windows for satellite TV debuts, resulting in lesser audience engagement. Even broadcasters with streaming services prefer to distribute new films on OTT first, therefore the price of film rights for satellite TV has dropped 30-40% in the last two years. Foreign streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video also pay a lot of money for digital debuts.
Regional language films, like as Bhojpuri and Marathi, did saw a 13 percent and 14 percent drop in viewership, respectively. According to the research, since the top 120-150 million Indians who own TV sets also have access to both cinemas and OTT platforms, film channel viewing would grow. As a result, the gap between a film’s release in theatres and digital platforms vs its premiere on satellite TV may widen in order to improve a film’s revenue.
“The calendar year 2021 was particularly difficult for television movie channels since a big number of films premiered straight on digital platforms for which substantial sums were paid for exclusive rights. The picture loses significance when it has to wait eight to twelve weeks for a satellite TV debut,” said Karan Taurani, senior vice-president of Elara Capital Ltd.
According to him, there is a structural shift in audiences, with more people watching movies on OTT platforms and less people watching television. The tendency is expected to accelerate, especially if OTT subscriptions become more widely accessible in appealing packaged bundles, he added.
With the exception of Sun TV Network, which still airs big-ticket movies on TV first, all businesses now opt for speedy OTT debuts after theatrical release, according to independent trade expert Sreedhar Pillai. Broadcasters’ final resort is to rely on their dubbed south Indian film collections, which have a devoted following in tier-II and tier-III towns.
Manish Shah, the director of Goldmine Telefilms, which owns Dhinchaak, a TV station for dubbed films, told Mint in a previous interview that the films he presents on his YouTube channel are popular. “Any firm that does not go online will go out of business.”
Despite this, broadcasters are confident about television’s future reach. “This is a study of a certain point in time, and the time period is more of an outlier.” The epidemic cut the number of Hollywood movie releases by more than half in 2020, and it also cut the number of TV shows in 2021. This statistic should not be interpreted as a trend because the movie industry relies largely on fresh releases to build its audience. In fact, we’ve noticed an increase in premiere viewing,” said Amit Shah, cluster head–north, west, and premium channels, ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.
