Mumbai: The streaming boom has revolutionised the media and entertainment industry globally, and fuelled the creative economy of countries like India with its growing data usage. According to Amazon Prime Video India country head Gaurav Gandhi, this trend will only go upwards, and India has the potential to be the largest OTT market in the world.
“This is because, the OTT segment in India has a huge base of consumers with an insatiable appetite for entertainment and disposable income to pursue the best experiences,” he elaborated. “Another reason is that it has a very rich pool of creators who have the power to create world-class entertainment experiences and thirdly, the deep penetration of connectivity via affordable broadband available ubiquitously across multiple devices.”
Gandhi was speaking at the CII Big Picture Summit on Thursday, where he addressed a valedictory session titled ‘The Big Pitch: Is the Industry ready, What’s Next?’.
Talking about the contribution of OTT Players in fuelling the growth of the media and entertainment industry, Gandhi said Prime Video is contributing to a prolific creative economy by addressing some of the most significant challenges that currently exist.
“Amazon Prime is breaking the barrier of geographies, and addressing the challenge of reach or distribution. Today, it serves 99 per cent of pin codes of the nation and reaches 240 countries and territories across the world,” said Gandhi, adding that another barrier that it has addressed is the limitation of viewership imposed by language. “Good content travels across boundaries with subs and dubs. For example, movies in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil are being viewed by mainstream audiences, evident from the fact that 50 per cent of the viewing of different language movies in India comes from outside the home state.”
Gandhi also highlighted how the high calibre content from India is viewed by international audiences, and OTT platforms like Prime are not just presenting India to the rest of the world, but also showcasing its rich heritage and diverse culture. “We are also bringing India closer to itself as consumers view regional content outside its home state and gain a deeper appreciation of the rich diversity of our nation,” he remarked.
The 10th edition of the CII Big Picture Summit 2021 was held virtually on 18-19 November and brought together key stakeholders from the media and entertainment industry to discuss and deliberate on the year gone by and the upcoming opportunities and trends to foresee.
Ministry of information and broadcasting secretary Apurva Chandra, Roy Kapur Films founder and managing director Siddharth Roy Kapur, Technicolor country head for India Biren Ghose, Zee Entertainment Enterprises president content and international business Punit Misra, Tata Sky managing director and CEO Harit Nagpal, Bennett Coleman & Co chairman - executive committee Sivakumar Sundaram, MX Player CEO Karan Bedi, and The Indian Music Industry (association) president Blaise Fernandes were among others who attended the key event.
