We are seeing the rise of OTT and it is directly impacting the theatre owners a lot. With the rise of OTT, producers are getting much more money through digital rights and this has also led to the rise of remunerations of heroes and all cast and crew. The ones who have been adversely impacted are the exhibitors as now movies are streaming in just 4 weeks and several sections audience are ready to wait out 4 week OTT window and watch the movies from the comforts of their home rather than going to theatres.
Due to this short OTT streaming window after the theatrical release, the theatres are not even registering 20% – 30% occupancies on many days in a month. Theatre owners are unable to sustain their businesses and are unable to recover rents and theatre maintenance charges. Foreseeing this challenge, the Hindi Multiplex association had taken a decision long back of 8 week window for OTT releases. According to this, a movie can be released only after 8 weeks on OTT.
But in south India, no such decision has been taken to counter this OTT challenge and finally, Kerala and Tamil Nadu theatre owners are taking a crucial step by demanding 6 weeks – 8 weeks OTT window for upcoming films, or else they are ready to boycott the release on their theatres. Now OTT market is also going down and the producers have to depend on theatrical revenue only.
For many of films, the audience are not even coming to theaters and waiting for the OTT release. In Telugu states, multiple meetings have happened on this issue but a proper resolution was not possible. We need to see whether Tamil Nadu and Kerala theatre owners are able to execute their plans and bring a 6-8 week window on OTT releases or not.
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