Digital Streaming Platforms : The Golden Goose is in critical condition down south :-

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN :-

Kalaipuli S Thanu was expecting Television channels to pay premium prices for Theri & Kabali but what those channels offered weren't upto his expectations. He was in talks with Jaya TV and Vijay TV, the latter broadcast audio launch of Theri but couldn't seal the deal. The reason cited by TV channels was people consuming film content has split and a portion of them watch more films in Desktop, laptops and smartphones than in TV.

The events that followed lead to the beginning of the OTT era in South India. Kalaipuli S Thanu decided to sell satellite and digital rights separately. Digital rights went to Amazon Prime for a reasonable price while Sun TV acquired broadcast rights. The deal proved to be successful for all stakeholders involved.

I vividly remember a joke cracked by Suriya fans "தியேட்டர் ரிலீஸ்க்கே இவ்ளோ promos பண்ணல but Amazon Prime Video Singam 3 digital premiere அவ்ளோ ப்ரோமோஷன் பண்ணான்".

Amazon Prime Video became confident about the prospects of South Indian films in digital space following which they acquired VIP 2, Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru & Aruvi. Theeran along with Aruvi was bought for 5 crores, very costly but Theeran continued to be streamed by a lot people thus convincing Amazon it was worth the money.

It's after seeing the reception to Thaanaa Serndha Koottam, Amazon Prime Video became cautious of the prices they paid to acquire films. TSK was bought for 6 crores and it proved to be costly because Singam 3 was streamed by more people when Amazon's subscription base was smaller. Kadaikutty Singam bought for 3 crores was streamed by people on par with TSK.

Despite TSK falling short of expectations, Amazon Prime Video paid huge prices to buy Suriya's NGK (10 crores) & Kaappaan (12 crores). NGK was bought based on the merit of Suriya-Selvaraghavan combo. Since Selvaraghavan's Pudhupettai enjoys a cult following, Amazon was of the opinion that regardless of how NGK fares in theaters, it should be hot in the digital space. Kaappaan was bought for a higher price because of the large canvas and ensemble cast. Both films fared poorly in digital premiere and continue to be ignored by subscribers. Same digital rights however managed to recover costs for Dreamwarrior Pictures and LYCA Productions, both of whom would have suffered losses If not for that.

SATURATION POINT :- 

2.0 (54 crores), Saaho (42 crores), Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy (40 crores) finally pushed Amazon Prime to consider revising the prices they have been offering for South Indian films. KGF (18 crores) is the most streamed South Indian acquisition of Amazon Prime. Tamil version of KGF was poorly planned in released in theaters but in Amazon Prime, it was more streamed more than many direct Tamil films, this ensures there will be more demand for Tamil version of KGF 2 in both in theaters and digital space.


Viswasam (11 crores), Asuran (6 crores) were also expensive but fared comparatively better. Bigil (15 crores) will premiere in Amazon Prime on December 13th and it remains to be seen how it fares in digital streaming.


NETFLIX :-

Though its popular in USA, Netflix has far lesser subscription base in South India than Amazon Prime. They acquired a no. of Tamil films. One of them (Sila Samanyangalil) skipped theatrical release and directly premiered in Netflix. Super Deluxe (7 crores) is the most successful South Indian film for Netflix. 3/4th of the viewers were Non-Tamil subscribers. Thyagarajan Kumaraja might take years to come up with his next film and Netflix will still be eager to buy the digital rights. 

HOTSTAR :- 

Though not many might be aware of this fact. Hotstar has the highest no. of subscribers among OTT platforms in India. This is because they offer lot of variety in content. There is serials for senior citizens and ladies, there is cricket and old films for the Men, Films and web series for young adults and youths.

Recently Hotstar bought Kaithi digital rights for 7 crores on condition they will get to stream the film 30 days after release. Kaithi is currently performing well in both digital space and theaters (limited but better than new releases).

CONCLUSION :-

Recent events hints producers are treating OTT platforms like dumping yards. Producers spending huge money on films relying on recovery from digital rights will be hit badly because few months down the line, OTT platforms may no longer offer the premium prices they have been paying till now.