iWorld
Bollywood stars go OTT
MUMBAI: Circa 1990: When a big Bollywood star like Amitabh Bachchan descended on the small screen to host a quiz show featuring the common man, it raised a few eyebrows as well as caught the nation’s fancy! The until then inaccessible and elusive star soon became a fixture in every home with a television set as he won fans and admirers with his trademark baritone voice.
Since then, Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Hrithik Roshan, Priyanka Chopra and Sonakshi Sinha amongst others have tried their hand at television hosting various non-fiction shows. What’s more, the likes of Bachchan and Anil Kapoor have even gone a step further by featuring in fiction TV series like Yudh and 24 respectively. One of the major reasons for this was that each realised the power and reach of the television medium, which beamed into millions of Indian homes as opposed to the exposure they received via the limited number of theatre screens in India during their sporadic movie releases.
Cut to 2016: With the rise of the digital medium and the growing over-the-top (OTT) platforms, a handful of forward-thinking Bollywood stars now have their digital strategy chalked out in order to get even more closer to their fans not just in India but across the globe. With OTT’s unprecedented reach coupled with their fan following across various social media platforms, the world is literally their oyster!
Stars now want a bite out of the digital pie either by promoting themselves on various social media platforms or by appearing in digital-only content. Internationally, Netflix’s path-breaking original series House of Cards featuring a mainstream Hollywood actor like Kevin Spacey created waves when the first season was launched in 2013. What’s more, actors like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie-Pitt have also partnered with the streaming giant for exclusive original movies.
Closer home, Priyanka Chopra, who took a leap into American television last year with the ABC show Quantico, has now trained her eyes on the digital landscape. The avant-garde actress has partnered with OTT platform nexGTV, Fluence and Endemol-Shine India to co-produce and create an original 14-part mobi-series called It’s My City.
What’s more, last year Eros International’s OTT platform ErosNow unveiled ambitious plans to develop six original digital series namely The Clients, Khel, Legacy, Lost, Showtime and Fairytale featuring mainstream Bollywood stars like Ayushmann Khurrana, Anil Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Chitrangda Singh, Radhika Apte and Nana Patekar.
And it won’t be long before the rest of the brood follows suit.
Speaking on the factors driving the trend of Bollywood stars taking this leap into the bottomless digital landscape in order to expand their visibility, #Fame CEO Saket Saurabh says, “Two things; firstly, stars have woken up to the importance of social media in engaging fans be it through their various social media profiles or through content present on web. The other crucial game changer is the rapid rate at which video content is growing in the digital space. Over the last three to four years, social media has evolved from being text based to video based. What’s more, live video is seeing a huge surge this year.”
However, Saurabh observes that this surge is mostly on Video on Demand (VOD) platforms as the OTT platforms are still feeding off television. “There is a dearth of original content when it comes to the OTTs, who are still showcasing content from movies and television,” he says.
nexGTV COO Abhesh Verma adds, “Digital platforms enable stars to engage and get up close and personal with their fans, followers, and influencers alike, via an alternate, personal, preferred, widely adopted and rapidly growing platform. This also allows them to complement their other update-led social media handles such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram etc. Together with its global pervasiveness and with 300 million+ active internet users of which a significant number is via mobiles, stars cannot afford to ignore digital anymore. While most of them are already exploring the medium in one way or another, it is time for them to start creating deeper engagements with not just their communities but the public at large.”
A major reason why stars are now drawn to this medium is also because of the way content is treated on this platform. Several creators are experimenting with different new formats now that they are not restricted by the limitations that the television medium brings. Producers are dabbling with short-form content to test the waters with edgy narrative. This also works in favour of the stars who want to showcase their talent in ways that movies and television don’t let them.
“In television and movies, celebrities are ‘cast’ in a role, while in digital there is scope for partnership,” points out Saurabh. “Digital content creators are partners not clients who have ‘hired’ the artists. Stars own the work they are doing digitally, which can also be weaved around them keeping their image in mind. Since it is a new medium there is a huge scope for artists to make the most of it. This will only increase the number of celebrities coming on the medium, as the audience base keeps increasing,” he adds.
Be it producers, content creators, advertisers, media planners or the OTT players, all unanimously agree that the current trend is a direct result of the sudden opening up of bandwidth in India for internet consumption, with the rollout of 3G and 4G being a key factor.
“If statistics shared by several data aggregators are to be believed, India has a mind blowing 320 internet connections through smart phones and another 160 million will be added by the end of 2016,” shares Rishi Negi from Fluence, who has co-produced the web series It’s My City with Chopra for nexGTV. “The way people are adapting to the second screen is amazing,” he adds.
Concurring with him is Madhouse COO and mobile marketing expert Milind Pathak. “Mobile is already taking upwards of 60 per cent of video consumption in the digital space. Looking at these numbers, it’s a logical move for Bollywood stars to come on to the mobile video platform to increase visibility and create more followers. Apart from YouTube, with apps like Hotstar, Sony Liv, Netflix, Hungama and VuClip, we have large active user base, which will easily reach over 50 million in 2016. So it’s imperative that Bollywood stars follow this platform.”
ErosNow COO Karan Bedi adds, “3G and 4G rollouts are picking up speed and the next 12 – 18 months will see a huge change in how people access content, especially video on their devices. You will see a huge pickup as more and more stars, production companies and producers migrate to OTT platforms. At ErosNow, for example, we are commissioning a whole series of original shows, some with stars, for the platform. It is still very early right now but all the stars will be present in the space.”
What’s interesting is ErosNow’s revenue model for the shows, which is layered between advertising, subscription and viewership based models that comes into play as one spends more and more time with the platform – ‘Pay As You Go.’ This points at how, even with the rapidly growing digital content and video consumption in India, monetisation is still a challenge and has to be carefully strategised. “Monetisation does work in a bit of a lag. Right now, monetised digital content is probably one-seventh or one-eighth of television, and one-sixth of the digital usage,” Saurabh guesstimates. “But that only means it is bound to get better from here on. It’s bound to correct itself, if we go by how businesses work,” he adds.
If one were to go by return on investment (ROI), then do celebrities entering the market increase production cost and thereby also affect the returns for a medium, which is still in its nascent stage? “Celebrities aren’t always looking to be highly compensated for these projects; at least not right now. Often it’s a partnership for them where they look at the outcome as a way to engage with the audience. Plus, their presence makes the discovery of the series easier in the million other videos circulating on the Internet,” says Negi.
Looking at it from an advertiser’s perspective as well, having celebrities onboard only make the IP more credible or preferable to invest in, Negi adds. “Brands are excited with the digital space. The industry is at a time when the platforms are just setting their viewership right. Right now, visibility and peaking the interest of various advertisers is more important than ROI. That will follow,” he states.
“OTT platforms will obviously increase prices if they have a Bollywood star on-board. However, having a star on-board doesn’t mean good viewership, which is more dependent on good and quality content. If premium quality content is available on the VOD, then these platform will attract premium rates from advertisers,” explains Pathak.
This can be a double-edged sword for independent content creators waiting to be discovered because as competition increases, the over all value in the medium will also increase.
What Netflix’s strategy will be in the Indian market in terms of original content featuring celebrated actors will definitely be worth watching. What’s more, with the impending launch of Balaji Telefilms’ OTT platform ALT Digital, it is likely that Ekta Kapoor’s production powerhouse, which has a galaxy of Bollywood stars within an arm’s reach, will also have some original digital aces up its sleeves when it launches.
For now, Bollywood stars are definitely going OTT on digital and by that we don’t mean over the top in the literal sense… at least not as yet!
eNews
India uses ChatGPT for technical tasks nearly 4 times the world average: OpenAI
From classrooms to code, India’s AI use is increasingly skill-driven and youth-led.
MUMBAI: If code is the new currency, India is already minting it by the million prompts. In the world’s largest democracy, artificial intelligence is no longer a distant abstraction or a boardroom buzzword. It is a daily companion, drafting emails in Hyderabad, debugging code in Bengaluru, polishing essays in Delhi, and fielding life advice in towns far beyond the metros. Fresh data from OpenAI’s “Signals” initiative offers a rare, granular glimpse into how India is using ChatGPT, and the numbers suggest the country is not just adopting AI; it is actively shaping its use.
India is one of the largest markets globally for ChatGPT’s weekly active users and ranks among the top five countries for API usage. With OpenAI’s global consumer base exceeding 800 million users, most of them on free tiers, the dataset captures adoption patterns that go far beyond enterprise subscriptions.
Indian users, notably, are punching above their weight when it comes to advanced capabilities. Among ChatGPT Plus and Pro subscribers, usage of the data analysis tool is roughly four times above the global median. Use of Codex, OpenAI’s coding platform, is about three times above the median. Indians are nearly three times more likely than the global median to ask coding-related questions and almost twice as likely to seek help on education and learning.
This matters because it signals something economists call a shrinking “capability overhang”, which is the gap between what AI tools can do and how fully users exploit them. In India, that gap appears to be narrowing rapidly.
The geography of this coding intensity tracks the country’s technology hubs. Telangana, which is home to Hyderabad, ranks first in usage of OpenAI’s coding capabilities. Karnataka, home to Bengaluru, follows in second place, while Tamil Nadu comes third. In other words, the prompt traffic mirrors the tech corridors.
Nearly two-thirds of consumer ChatGPT messages in India are now non-work related, while slightly over one-third are tied to work. That marks a significant shift. In earlier phases of adoption, work was the dominant use case. It was only in early 2025 that non-work messages overtook professional use, and the divergence widened throughout the year.
Even so, India remains slightly above the global average in work-related usage. Around 35 per cent of consumer messages in India relate to work, compared with roughly 30 per cent globally.
At work, the emphasis is squarely task-oriented. Around 45 per cent of work-related conversations fall into “doing” behaviours such as drafting documents, transforming text, and completing tasks, compared with a much smaller share in non-work contexts. Technical help and writing dominate. In offices across the country, ChatGPT functions as a digital co-pilot that debugs code, polishes presentations, and unblocks stalled workflows.
Outside work, the tone shifts. Over 35 per cent of non-work messages revolve around practical guidance, which includes everyday advice and how-to queries. Roughly 20 per cent relate to seeking information. Nearly one-fifth involve writing tasks such as drafting or editing. Self-expression and learning loom large. In personal life, Indians appear to use AI less as an executor and more as an explainer, sounding board, and study partner.
India’s demographic dividend is clearly reflected in its AI habits.
Users aged 18 to 24 now account for just under half of all ChatGPT messages sent in the country. They surpassed the 25 to 34 age group in mid-2024 and have held the lead ever since. Globally, the 18 to 24 cohort accounts for about one-third of messages; in India, the share is markedly higher.
Combined, users aged 18 to 34 generate roughly 80 per cent of total consumer ChatGPT messages in India. Given that around 40 per cent of India’s population is under 25, the youth skew is unsurprising, but its implications are profound. Education-related queries, early-career problem-solving, and skills development are likely to dominate near-term AI impacts.
Usage patterns also differ by age. The 18 to 24 cohort accounts for a near majority of messages seeking practical guidance, technical help, and self-expression. Meanwhile, the 24 to 34 group sends a slightly higher share of multimedia and technical help queries relative to its overall share of usage.
If AI norms are being written in real time, it is young Indians who are holding the pen.
OpenAI does not collect gender data, but inferred patterns based on typically masculine and feminine first names reveal a measurable gap in India. A little under 60 per cent of users have typically masculine names, and just over 40 per cent have typically feminine names. This skew is more pronounced than the global average.
Worldwide, users with typically feminine names now account for slightly more than half of all messages. This shift occurred only in the summer of 2025, when feminine-name usage overtook masculine-name usage globally. In India, the gap persists, although it has been narrowing over the past year.
There are also topical differences. Users with typically feminine names are more likely to send messages related to self-expression, practical guidance, and writing. Those with typically masculine names lean more towards seeking information and technical help.
The data does not capture motivations, but it does highlight where inclusion efforts and digital literacy initiatives could focus if AI is to broaden opportunity rather than deepen divides.
The consumer story aligns with India’s broader AI momentum. The country ranks second globally in AI skills penetration and has one of the fastest-growing AI talent pools. It accounts for 9.2 per cent of global AI publications in computer science as of 2023, which represents a substantial contribution to research output.
At the same time, investment in AI data centres and digital public infrastructure is expanding, promising to knit together datasets and resources at scale. Enterprise adoption is also robust, which suggests that consumer experimentation is unfolding alongside institutional integration.
OpenAI’s “Signals” project is built with aggregated, privacy-preserving data and released with a time lag. It aims to provide a durable measurement layer for the AI era. The idea is not to track individuals, but to surface patterns such as where adoption is accelerating, who is using the tools, and what they are actually doing.
In a country as vast and varied as India, such evidence is more than academic. It shapes decisions about workforce training, small business support, education policy, and safeguards.
For now, the numbers paint a picture of a nation that is not merely consuming AI, but conversing with it in an energetic, experimental, and increasingly skilful manner. In India, the future of work and learning is not being downloaded. It is being drafted, debugged, and rewritten in real time.
