Growth of Regional Language Content in OTT Space

Posted by Himani on September 9th, 2019

Juts like the coy and humble masala dosa got a makeover and is now being offered in a myriad of fillings from cheese to schezwan and from noodles to egg; OTT platforms are two enriching their content and media library with multilingual content. With Hindi being the driving language behind all major Indian OTT platforms; addition of regional language content in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Punjabi, and more has opened greater avenues to draw subscribers from tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

From watching Telugu movies online to popular Kannada web series, Watcho is inarguably the frontrunner among best online OTT platforms when it comes to watching regional content. With an admirable media library of popular South Indian movies, Kannada or Tamil web series, thriller shows or live Tamil news online; Watcho never ceases to amaze its viewers with its wide bouquet of multilingual content across different formats.

Here are some of the reasons major OTT players consider regional content being the hotbed of opportunities:

Regional Content Expands Subscriber Base

It gets easy to ignore other regional languages, more so when one dominant language takes the centre stage. While English and Hindi make for the majority of content online on most video streaming apps, there is a whole larger section out there who love to consume content in their native language.

Publishing native content for the consumption of the specific target audience helps these OTT platforms get new subscribers and expand their base and reach. From Telugu entertainment to Malayalam web shows; the market is huge and drives exponential growth.

Viewers Better Respond to Content in Their Native Content

Industry estimates say that by the end of 2020, 75% of new internet users hailing from rural India love to consume content in their native language. That’s simply for a reason that viewers connect better when the content is presented in their native languages. It helps establish an emotional connect with the particular content and builds a rapport with the specific online OTT platform.

If a consumer comes to an app to watch Telugu movies online, he is more likely to stick and come back to the particular app if he finds the content in his native language.

Regional Content Has Huge Potential

Ditching Hindi and English, there’s a whole lot of additional scope with the regional content as there are around 22 languages spoken in India. That opens new avenues for the stakeholders too to dig deep in and come out with new web-only Telugu movies online, regional web series, web shows, Telugu entertainment, and much more. Not just that drives in more revenue but is also a hotbed of opportunities for actors, producers, directors, and production houses. All that simply means that the entire regional content industry is full of potential for everyone consolidated.

What all this means for consumer? Consumers will be spoilt for choices with an entire lot of OTT platforms serving regional content at competitive prices or free. Now all that depends on the consumers to pick their chosen ones from the lot that offers convenience and that too at low prices.