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9 takeaways from GoaFest 2014!
GOA: Contrary to popular perception, GoaFest is not just about beer, beach and a break from deadlines.
Barely my second year at the fest and energy levels seem to be hitting the roof, speculations of certain biggies giving the event a miss notwithstanding.
As they say the show must go on and so it is that we’ve had our share of sundry speakers, some getting a standing ovation and others tickling our funny bone. On my part, I’ve put down nine observations as key takeaways from this edition of GoaFest.
Clients love their agencies
Yes, you read it right. Britannia’s ever energetic Anuradha Narsimhan made a candid observation yesterday. She said she loves her associates (agencies) who care for her brands. Agency types were obviously bubbling with joy when they heard this.
Pepsico’s Deepika Warrier presented her ‘one’ philosophy saying the thought of being ‘one team’ had worked wonders in the relationship PepsiCo had with its agency partners. How often do you hear a client saying all this at a public forum? These thoughts put a smile on my face.
It’s time for ‘social relevance’
The marketing world may be talking about the power of social but is digital marketing only about being powerful on social? Wondered Preethi Mariappa of Razorfish Germany and said it was time for brands to give consumers memorable experiences on social.
2014 will be the age of social relevance, according to Mariappa. She sounded a note of caution however that while there is much optimism about the social space changing marketing dynamics, it was left to be seen whether brands towed the line.
Comedy sells best on social
Unlike the impression I had that the fest would be all too serious, a few surprises threw me. When team All India Bakchod (AIB), India’s foremost comedy podcast creators took centre stage, I was sure that there would be some great points of view coming their way, no pun intended.
The funnies shared their success story and said to create an impressive podcast, you needed to follow your heart, mind and punch in some great flow of ideas. I realised that in India, content needs to be crafted, keeping in mind cultural implications. As people open up their minds, content too will take newer shapes on social.
Digital media in search of creativity
A common point that came up over the three days was that brands need to get out of their comfort zone. A good idea can come from anywhere; said MEC’s Melanie Varley. She said that brands should do something to make people talk about them. Though creativity is subjective, it is essential that brands put on their thinking cap to grab attention on social.
Everyone likes storytellers
Storytelling is an art that makes every conversation memorable. The digital case studies that were showcased by various local and international experts had one thing in common – shareability
Content on digital is a hit only when people share it. Thus, brands need to be great storytellers even on digital.
It’s all about digital
Everyone is talking about digital. Everyone wants to be on digital. Time demands brands and agencies think digital! The ‘just a click away’ culture has changed many lives and businesses.
You can be an inspiration at any age
No one had expected two kids all suited to go up on stage and confidently share their business story. With a grin and passion in their eyes, Shravan and Sanjay won hearts and got a standing ovation with their story. They are the country’s youngest app developers. If there is such a thing as age is only a number, truly, these two are an inspiration for people of all ages.
Impressive new entrants in the Abbys
PR and Broadcaster – the newbies in GoaFest this year, got an overwhelming response. The Advertising Club and chairman of the Awards Governing Council president Pratap Bose mentioned that the 10 member jury for the PR category was excited to see some good pieces of work. PR locally doesn’t have a platform to showcase its work. The move to introduce these categories is a wise one.
Cooperative competition
As I am about to finish this piece, a fellow journalist comes and waves to me. A newsletter from competition which is right in front of me features one of my tweets about GoaFest. Another reporter from a rival publication calls out to me for a stroll along the beach. Did someone say competition? We’re here to learn and absorb from one another.
Apart from the takeaways, here’s a big shout out to all the winners from indiantelevision.com!
MUMBAI: 2025 will be remembered as the year India’s OTT industry stopped chasing scale for its own sake and began reckoning with how audiences actually consume content. Completion rates fell, patience wore thin and the limits of long-form excess became impossible to ignore. In this guest column, Pratap Jain, founder and CEO of ChanaJor, traces how micro-drama moved from the fringes to the centre of viewing behaviour, why short-form fiction emerged as a retention engine rather than a trend, and how platforms that respected time, habit and emotional payoff were the ones that truly grew up in 2025.
If there is one thing 2025 will be remembered for in the Indian OTT industry, it’s this: the industry finally stopped pretending.
Stopped pretending that bigger automatically meant better.
Stopped pretending that viewers had endless time.
Stopped pretending that scale without retention was success.
What began as a quiet reset in 2023 and a cautious correction in 2024 turned into a very visible shift in 2025. Business models matured. Content strategies tightened. And most importantly, platforms started aligning themselves with how Indians actually watch content, not how the industry wished they would.
At the centre of this shift was micro-drama—not as a trend, but as a behavioural inevitability.
When OTT finally understood the time problem
For years, long episodes were treated as a marker of seriousness. A 45–60 minute runtime was almost a badge of credibility. Shorter formats were pushed to the margins, labelled as “snack content” or “mobile-only.”
That belief quietly collapsed in 2025.
What platform data showed very clearly was not a drop in interest—but a drop in patience. Viewers weren’t rejecting stories. They were rejecting commitment.
Across platforms, the same patterns appeared:
* First-episode drop-offs on long-form shows kept increasing
* Completion rates continued to slide
* Viewers were sampling more titles but finishing fewer
At the same time, shows with episodes in the six to 10 minute range started showing the opposite behaviour: higher completion, higher repeat viewing, and stronger daily habit formation.
Micro-drama didn’t win because it was short. It won because it respected time.
Micro-Drama didn’t arrive loudly. It took over quietly.
There was no single moment when micro-drama “launched” in India. It crept in through dashboards and retention charts.
By mid-2025, it was clear that viewers were happy watching four, five, sometimes six short episodes in one sitting—even when they wouldn’t finish a single long episode. Romance, relationship drama, slice-of-life conflict, and grounded comedy worked especially well.
This wasn’t disposable content. It was compressed storytelling.
In shorter formats, there was no room for indulgence. Every episode had to move the story forward. Weak writing was punished faster. Strong writing was rewarded immediately.
Micro-drama raised the bar instead of lowering it.
Where ChanaJor naturally fit into this shift
ChanaJor didn’t pivot to micro-drama in 2025 because the market demanded it. In many ways, the platform was already built around the same viewing behaviour.
From the beginning, ChanaJor focused on short-to-mid-length fictional stories that felt close to everyday Indian life—hostels, rented flats, office romances, small-town relationships, young people figuring things out. Stories that didn’t need heavy context or cinematic scale to connect.
What worked in ChanaJor’s favour in 2025 was clarity:
* A clearly defined audience
* Tight episode lengths
* Storytelling that prioritised emotion and pace over spectacle
While several platforms rushed to copy global micro-drama formats, ChanaJor stayed rooted in familiar Indian settings and conflicts. That familiarity mattered. Viewers didn’t have to “enter” the world of the show—it already felt like theirs.
Why audiences started responding differently
One of the biggest misconceptions going into 2025 was that audiences wanted shorter content because their attention spans had reduced. That wasn’t entirely true.
What viewers actually wanted was meaningful payoff per minute.
On platforms like ChanaJor, episodes didn’t waste time setting the mood for ten minutes. Conflicts arrived early. Characters were recognisable within moments. Emotional hooks landed fast.
A typical consumption pattern looked like real life:
* One episode during a break
* Two more before sleeping
* A few the next day
This is how viewing habits are built—not through marketing spends, but through comfort and consistency.
Viewers came back not because every show was a blockbuster, but because they knew what kind of experience to expect.
2025 was also the year OTT faced business reality
The other big change in 2025 was on the business side. Subscriber growth slowed. Discounts stopped hiding churn. Customer acquisition costs rose.
Platforms were forced to ask harder questions:
* Are viewers finishing what they start?
* Are they returning without reminders?
* Is this content worth what we’re spending on it?
This is where micro-drama began outperforming expectations. A well-written short series could deliver sustained engagement without massive budgets. It didn’t peak for one weekend and disappear—it stayed alive through repeat viewing.
Platforms like ChanaJor benefited because they weren’t chasing inflated launch numbers. The focus was on consistency and retention, not noise.
Failures Became Visible Faster
2025 also exposed weaknesses brutally.
Several platforms assumed micro-drama was a shortcut—short episodes, quick shoots, instant traction. What they discovered was that bad writing fails faster in short formats than in long ones.
Viewers dropped off within minutes. Episodes were abandoned mid-way. Weak stories had nowhere to hide.
Micro-drama didn’t forgive laziness. It amplified it.
The platforms that survived were the ones that treated short storytelling with the same seriousness as long-form—sometimes more.
OTT Stopped Chasing Prestige and Started Chasing Habit
Perhaps the most important shift in 2025 wasn’t technical or creative—it was psychological.
OTT stopped trying to look like cinema. It stopped chasing validation through scale and awards alone. It began behaving like what it actually is in people’s lives: a daily companion.
Platforms like ChanaJor found their space here because that mindset was already baked in. The goal wasn’t to dominate a weekend launch. It was to quietly become part of someone’s everyday viewing routine.
That shift changed everything—from release strategies to how success was measured.
What 2025 Ultimately Taught the Industry
By the end of the year, three truths were impossible to ignore:
* Time is the most valuable thing a viewer gives you
* Retention matters more than reach
* Format must follow behaviour, not ego
Micro-drama didn’t take over because it was fashionable. It took over because it fit real life.
Looking Ahead
Micro-drama is not replacing long-form storytelling. It is redefining the baseline of engagement.
Longer shows will survive—but only when they earn their length. Short-form fiction will continue to evolve, becoming sharper, more emotionally confident, and better written.
Platforms like ChanaJor have shown that it’s possible to grow without shouting—by understanding the audience, respecting their time, and telling stories that feel real.
2025 wasn’t the year OTT became smaller. It was the year it became smarter.
Note: The views expressed in this article are solely the author’s and do not necessarily reflect our own.
