Fewer Films, Less Pay: Duopoly of OTT Platforms Tightens Grip on Bollywood

New Delhi: Bollywood is moving away from a competitive content market to a duopoly between streaming platforms, a study from research firm Ormax Media has shown.

The shift has sparked concern among producers, filmmakers and other stakeholders, as the race to get a film acquired by streaming platforms is shaping the type and quantity of content being produced.

The study shows that until three years ago, the Hindi film industry was a seller’s market, where multiple production houses and studios were actively producing and acquiring content. This allowed content creators to have more bargaining power.

However, Netflix and Amazon Prime’s share in acquiring theatrical releases jumped from 60% in 2022 to 76% in 2024, the study found.

The pandemic too played a role. Many streaming platforms adopted a cautious approach – pausing content creation and acquisition – as the industry dealt with the aftermath of COVID-19. With fewer streaming platforms left in play, the negotiating power concentrated in the hands of a few.

Producer Rajesh R Nair told the Economic Times, "The industry has transformed into a buyers' market. A few streamers are negotiating hard and calling the shots. Producers are making films for streamers rather than theatres."

According to Nair, conversations about films today begin with the question of a streaming platform being attached to them. “People are more focused on pre-selling (before theatrical release) a film rather than making a film," he said.

With just a few players controlling the market, content buying and production have slowed. This has led to fewer films being made. According to Ormax Media, the number of Hindi films released directly on streaming platforms dropped sharply from 53 in 2021 to just 18 in 2024.

This, in turn, has affected theatres, forcing them to re-release older films to meet operational costs.

Shrirang Nargund, a veteran and independent consultant on streaming business, told the paper, “Big production houses provide streamers some good content. But streamers also buy not-so-great content from them. Streamers must train their acquisition teams in developing a strong sense of aesthetics and creativity. This will help them create and acquire content which will appeal to a large base of audiences, he said.

Nargund added, that there was a variety of content being produced by mid-and-small-sized production houses. Giving the example of Malayalam film The Great Indian Kitchen, he said that streamers should make bolder choices.

Another trend emerging in the industry due to the concentration of buying power is restricted content budgets. Nargund said that content budgets have been slashed by 40%, resulting in a direct impact on actor remuneration.

Streamers today strike-up profit sharing contracts with actors instead of paying a steep upfront fee that was traditionally the norm, the report said.

According to experts, the challenges facing the film industry can be addressed by returning to the traditional model – when films were made for a theatre-going audience first and rights sales came second.

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