New Delhi: The regional content space in India is climbing up at a blistering pace. And the evidence of it is some very successful examples of vernacular ventures in the content space in India. While keeping an eye on the West has been the norm, regional OTT players believe that there is much more to learn from Korea than from Hollywood.
Speaking during a session at India Digital Summit, Ajit Thakur, co-founder, Aha, a regional OTT platform catering to the Tamil and Telugu-speaking diaspora, said that Korea can teach us more than Hollywood.
“It has a lot to do with the kind of distribution, marketing, and the single-minded love for fantasy they have in any genre, that their content is so successfully distributed globally. Today, Korean studios are making some of the biggest Hollywood shows that are an adaptation of Korean shows,” Thakur said.
Regional going global?
While regional content has made its mark in the Indian subcontinent, it is yet to make its place in the global scenario.
On being asked if Indian languages have the potential to be the next Korean or Japanese, in terms of global content consumption, Vinay Singhal, CEO, STAGE Technologies, said, “It has started happening within our subcontinent. One of our Haryanvi films garnered a massive audience across India, from Lucknow and Patna to the far east in Nagaland.
This success sparked a belief that one day, any content in Haryanvi, Rajasthani, or any regional language, can achieve international recognition, like at the Oscars." STAGE is an OTT platform that delivers content in Haryanvi and Rajasthani.
Owning the technology
Another mantra of success for vernacular ventures that emerged in the discussion was owning the technology. Soumya Mukherjee, CEO, Hoichoi, a Bengali-based OTT platform, highlighted how they have started owning their own technology which is a way forward. “We've begun developing our own front-end applications and are on the verge of launching our own back-end systems. This will give us complete end-to-end control over our platform,” Mukherjee said.
Adding to this, Singhal said, “I believe there's immense value in owning your own technology. This goes beyond cost savings. It provides unparalleled control over marketing, experimentation, and customer acquisition funnels, which ultimately outweighs any initial investment.
In our case, owning our technology significantly improved our marketing efficiency and helped us address the challenge of high customer acquisition costs. I believe this strategy should be considered by all companies."
Tweaks needed
Chiming in on the discussion of bringing regional OTTs to the mainstream, Aha’s Thakur believes that being a “lot more interactive” is necessary to keep the upcoming generation coherent with the platforms. Adding to this, Thakur also stressed the importance of focusing on making the applications much lighter. Following this, a more intuitive recommendation engine can make things much better for regional OTTs, according to Thakur.