95% of all viewing happening on OTT across platforms is through mobile screens: Gautam Talwar of MX Player

A high majority, almost 95%, of all viewing happening on OTT across platforms is through mobile screens, said Gautam Talwar, Chief Content Officer, MX Player at the ‘MX Player presents Knowledge Seminars’ session held on day two of Goafest 2022. 

Talwar was in conversation with actors Vikrant Massey and Ali Fazal. The panel was being moderated by anchor and Creative Director, Atika Farooqui, and conversations were around the topic of changing narratives in the OTT landscape. 

“According to one of our recent studies, 95% of all viewing happening on OTT across platforms is through mobile screens,” Talwar said.

He advised OTT players to focus on tier-two audiences. “The real audience is in tier-two towns, like a middle-class boy in Ludhiana. Or Ola/Uber drivers in metro cities, they are the ones who are actually consuming your content.” 

“We have to understand that cord cutters, which are the 18-22 years old who used to get something to watch, have nothing to watch on television today,” he added. 

The panel further spoke about how even connected TV is growing, however, most people would not be comfortable watching all types of content with family.

Talwar said the entertainment ecosystem understands long-form content and movies very well, but the industry is yet to ace the game when it comes to OTT content. 

Adding to this, Fazal said, “I could not watch my own show for a while because I found it gory. Freedom should actually be about how you can tell the story within the framework.” 

Enlisting the benefits of OTT, he added, “What OTT has managed to do is democratise story telling. The quality stories in cinema are few. OTT has given the youth of this country a medium and access to stories.” 

Massey further said that the exposure of the Indian audience to international content is also raising the bar of expectations. “Today an average OTT platform is catering to 150 countries. Hence, our exposure to international content has also made us realise that there are things we need to pull up our socks in. Which we have, to quite an extent.” 

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