The fourth season of the SonyLIV original ‘Maharani’ has now been announced and it does not seem to pull much buzz on the internet and it is quite strange. Maharani has performed well throughout the previous three seasons and has gathered praise from critics and audiences too.
Such underwhelming response is very unexpected but this is not the first time it is happening for a SonyLIV show. Only recently we saw very low hype for the historical drama ‘The Waking Of A Nation’ from SonyLIV too.
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The platform has time and again proved its mettle with high quality shows like Rocket Boys or Scam: 1992 and users are very satisfied at least with the content of SonyLIV.
The discontent that subscribers have for SonyLIV is due to the excessive ads. And the platform does not seem to have a good following in the southern states of India as well. That might be a big reason behind the low hype of these shows.
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There is a need for more effort in the promotion and marketing for these stories as well, something that SonyLIV has to learn from the likes of Prime or Netflix. It is following the AppleTV way of silently releasing wonderful shows without much promotion and fans are concerned about it.
The irony to be noted is that, like any other platform, SonyLIV has premium content curated for streaming however, the hype surrounding the platform seems to be fading. In not spending further on marketing drives, there seems to be a clear gap in engagement levels, which in anticipation for even popular shows like Maharani is very low.
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In order to retain brand loyalty from existing subscribers, SonyLIV will have to work on its brand equity. SonyLIV hype could go through the roof if proper digital marketing, influencer partnerships, and social media advertising is done.
The competition in the streaming world is brutal and every one, be it Netflix, Prime, or Hotstar, ensures their originals get maximum advertising. SonyLIV needs to market itself to consumers alongside its distinct content catalog, which is unlike its competitors, to remain in the expanding OTT market.
The concern however is if this continues to persist, even the best of shows will not grab eyeballs and SonyLIV will progressively hurt its own growth in the Indian streaming market.
