Time for Global OTT Majors To Change Telugu Strategy?

The Telugu film industry’s theatrical business has opened with a bang this festive season. Four films have released for Sankranti which is the biggest season for film releases in Telugu. Two films are in the profit zone and one is heading towards being a safe project. And the other despite being a failure raked collections better than their actual worth.

This indicates the industry is on track for revival and the audience is interested to watch the films in theaters. While this is good news for the trade, it is not so good news for the OTT space.

A positive response from the theatrical business means the Direct online release is not going to be the option for any film going forward unless there are pre-signed deals. This is also an opportunity for the OTT platforms to focus on the creation of Original content to woo the Telugu audience.

Until now, only Aha Video is aggressive in that direction and Zee5 is also pitching in some content every now and then. It may be also the time for the Global Majors like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix to think in that direction. Only Purchasing post-release digital rights like in the pre-COVID era is not a completely good idea.