iWorld
Guest column: Winning over audience in post lockdown world
My neighbour is an ardent Ronit Roy fan. Having not seen him for a while in any Indian serial or film, top that with a glum lockdown mood made her grumpy. One should have seen the look on her face when I told her about him featuring in ALTBalaji’s Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain. And behold, the platform had its latest subscriber.
Like her, millions of us have been hooked to Indian OTT platforms over the past few months. With more time in hand, they’re now open to consuming content digitally, and watching shows that they wouldn’t have watched pre-lockdown. OTT platforms have increased their subscription base by offering diverse shows with relatable characters and topics. Hence, making their service a value-for-money proposition to the viewers.
Today, viewers have access to more content than they ever could consume. The continued increase in the range and breadth of content libraries has created a paradox of choice — too many content choices often paralyze viewers’ decision of what to watch. A consumer’s subscription journey starts with an intent to experiment, a platform to explore, and concludes with a demand for premium content. Making quality, ease in operation, affordability, and accessibility a key factor in driving subscription plans.
The Post Lockdown Plan
The lockdown phase has acted as a catalyst in transforming the content consumption habit of the audience and bringing the Indian viewer to their screens like never before. The KPMG report titled ‘COVID-19: The many shades of a crisis’, reveals that the penetration of subscription-based digital models is set to accelerate.
There has been a significant rise in the viewers’ appetite for online content. Moreover, streaming platforms are giving viewers fresh and new content, thereby increasing the amount of time spent on the service. Add to that, the growing apprehension that exists amongst viewers will see them embrace entertainment experiences in the ease of their home.
Nailing Nuances
In recent times, the Indian streaming industry has grown from strength to strength giving rise to an unprecedented transformation in content creation and consumption. This has seen leading content providers take deep dive into the viewer's preferences and demand to curate engaging content and enticing subscription packages. What leading platforms have got absolutely spot-on is their increased focus towards personalization and adapting seamless technology.
In the race to drive subscriptions, content creators and providers are presenting stories filled with local flavour and global relevance spanning genres and languages. Most are deploying and experimenting with technology-driven services. This allows them to offer a more personalized catalogue of content, in a manner that sees the viewers coming back for more.
Taking Your Content to the Users
There will never be a dearth of content in the Indian OTT space. In such a scenario, relevance makes the biggest difference between these leading players. The platform that delivers a host of offerings to the right audience makes for a leader in the industry, while the rest follow.
Owing to the large viewership from Tier II and Tier III markets, OTT players like us are tapping into the Bharat audience by associating with micro-influencers. This word-of-mouth advertising has worked its charm across the country. With renowned faces endorsing the content offered by the platforms, there has been an incremental growth towards roping in new audiences.
The shows and their diversity have paved the way towards consumer segmentation as well as streaming players catering to different demographics in their own way. Partnerships with leading telecom providers have also seen the content being amplified to a wider audience who are at the receiving end of clutter-breaking content for the same price.
This is a trend that’s going to stay as it's a win-win situation for both the provider as well as the consumer.
Ease of Consumption
The rise of digital content consumption has made the delivery of enhanced user experience take primacy as one of the key objectives of the streaming platforms. Through adopting innovative and data-driven design approaches – the quality of the user experience has become a deciding factor for a user to choose among the various available services in the market.
Understanding the target group and their challenges have seen streaming platforms today offer a host of payment options and subscription packages that align to their consumption patterns. Going down the platform-agnostic route has paid dividends as they provide users a customized experience leading to an increased level of engagement, thereby resulting in more subscriptions.
From a content segmentation and a garnering subscription point of view, one needs to start looking at expanding, acquiring, and retaining audiences. Rest assured that there will be a content library, that like always will regale audiences, along with subscription models, that assure the viewer a service that is value for money.
The author is SVP marketing, analytics, and direct revenue, ALTBalaji. The views are personal and indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to them.
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iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
