Pop-Culture Takes Centre Stage
There’s no doubt that the universe of OTT has changed the way we consume content and opened up new pathways to stories and storytelling. As you look around to what’s trending, to what’s forefront on everyone’s mind, it’s everything OTT and stories that they bring to India, for India. It shows in the numbers - in a year where Indians could not access theatres and other traditional forms of content consumption, 28 million Indians paid for 53 million OTT subscriptions in 2020 leading to a 49% growth in digital subscription revenues. This was more than a 100% rise from the 10.5 million subscribers in 2019. According to Redseer, the online content consumption in India grew 35% from January 2020 to April 2020 along and it continues to grow.
But there’s a bigger story at play. All these numbers and trends force us to ask a critical question – as OTT evolves the media landscape, what does it do to content and culture?
India’s pop culture has always had influence – locally and globally. It was defined by two central pillars – movies and prime-time television. And these have given birth to tropes that have travelled far and wide. Shaping rituals, vocabulary, fashion and more. But India’s pop culture was always operating in the background – not always in line with global influence. And in the age of the internet, our pop culture relied on tried and tested tropes, driving a deep divide between those who saw themselves as global and those who consumed locally.
And this is where OTT has provoked a shift. The impact of OTT on India – a country that has always vocally and visibly loved stories – is that it has unshackled storytelling from limiting assumptions, becoming the much-needed inflection point to free our pop culture from the neat box it was in. The pandemic and the isolation that came with it – simply catalysed this shift. It was this moment of truth that revealed to us that our pop culture was not a series of tropes neatly packed in a box, but fluid and expansive world of new permutations.
This impact of OTT begs for further investigation because this means that all our assumptions about people, content & culture are open to being challenged.
Firstly, it challenges our black & white categorisation of consumers basis TV & OTT. Those lines are not just blurred, they’re no longer applicable. Boomers, Millennials, Gen-Z and every other label we can think of has found its way to the OTT universe, with devices in every hand. Unlike television that was designed for shared viewing, OTT allows for both – individual and shared consumption. Age, gender, geography is not restrictive. Thus, making our pop culture more open to multiple moments, triggers and possibilities.
One look at trending content also challenges our ideas on what stories click with India. India has shown an active openness to stories & storytellers deemed too niche for television, challenging our idea that only certain stories are saleable. From edgy thrillers to nostalgia-inducing hostel romances to dramas playing out at coaching institutes, every story is now worth telling and finds a far more diverse audience that helps it travel further. With the love for stories staying strong, India has found a place for stories that reflect their reality but also stories that showcase their reality through a new lens.
Additionally, OTT has made pop culture borderless. Regional content is not just limited to stories from different parts of our country but from around the world. The functionality of subtitles and audio dubs are leading to a new wave of content taking over our screens and living rooms – courtesy K-Dramas and genre-defining heist shows from Latin America. And the impact of this is visible not just on content, but on cuisines and fashion as well. Facebook is now home to multiple groups dedicated to discussions on content and finding ways to fuel our fandom locally.
The accessibility of content has also given it a more central role in people’s lives. Content is filling up our every day – even a 10-minute break in our daily routines is an opportunity to consume. And people don’t categorise content as explicitly as before. We’re now looking at everything from Reels to OTT to influencers on social media to satiate our appetite for content – making our content choices unlimited. This means that content creators have a wider arena of formats to play with and are actively innovating with the craft of storytelling. This means that OTT too has to make space for new formats – moving beyond movies and series. This has already started with Disney+Hotstar introducing Quix – original episodic content that’s barely 10 minutes long, Netflix mobile app launching a tab called ‘Fast Laughs’ – edited short video from their own shows for people to consume like Reels and more.
It is this kind of adaptability of OTT that has allowed it to reshape pop culture. How? By giving people far greater control to shape their OTT experience. OTT is not only creating for what’s tried and tested but shaping themselves in sync with how people behave day on day. They have understood that people have to buy into their business and incorporate each platform independently into their repertoire of content choices. Maybe that’s why OTT’s approach to subscription is to offer people choice and to define value. Moving away from a one size fits all style, they’ve made sure that people can choose to subscribe for whatever duration works for them and to opt-in for services that matter. Some platforms have created their own version of the classic FMCG sachet SKU – letting people subscribe for a week, even a day. While others offer an annual subscription – justifying value by giving access to multiple devices, original content and much more.
But all said and done, the true impact of OTT lies in the way people define the role of pop culture in their journey of growth. While there exist larger markers of success and growth, content has now become an equally important social marker of mobility and a marker of internal growth. A marker that allows people to express their growth in tangible ways in a world where social influence matters. Content allows people to see contexts and conversations that give them insight into who they can choose to become. Externally, being in the know of trending content, and shaping other people’s content choices are signs of influence. And if pop culture is no longer static, this quest for external and internal growth is also going to be an always-on process for people.
All in all, it’s clear that people are tuned in. Pop culture is fuel for growth and so stories will take centre stage – from diverse, influential stories to stories that offer comfort to those that challenge our tropes. And OTT with its adaptability and ability to reinvent will continue to reimagine India’s pop culture. As this happens, we will have no choice but to keep pace. Tracking new inflections in culture, emerging communities, narratives and more.
The author is Sanchari Chakrabarty, Sr Strategy Director, DDB Mudra Group
