We see new platforms & players entering the OTT market in 2021: Rohit Jain

Shrugging off the disruptions of the year gone by, businesses and agencies are looking for a strong revival in 2021. Over the next few weeks, Adgully – as part of our annual TRENDING NOW endeavour – will be presenting the strategies and views of a cross-section of industry leaders as they go about reclaiming lost time and market opportunities and build for a stronger future, armed with the lessons of 2020.

Rohit Jain, Managing Director, Lionsgate South Asia and Networks - Emerging Markets Asia, is bullish on the OTT industry in the year ahead, where he sees more innovative collaborative models emerge, and even brands opting to use OTT platforms as a new medium to advertise their goods.

Outlook for 2021

Owing to the pandemic, the OTT industry has already seen a dynamic change last year and this year will set new precedents in the category. The OTT platform has seen a tremendous growth in these past years, right from Ad-supported service, to now an SVOD platform. The surge in demand has also led to more collaboration effort cutting across industries, with consumer and video consumption at the center of it. OTT, TELCO, OEM collaborations have evolved within a span of few years. Trends that we foresee in 2021 are:

Newer and more innovative collaborative models with inclusion of more industries
New platforms and players entering the market
More regional original content
End of day lots of more new untold stories

Great expectations

Over the years, technology has allowed us to break the barriers of both geography and language. In this competitive era, brands are looking to engage with their consumers in the best possible ways. Having said this, this year we might consider giving opportunities to advertisers to market products. Brands may opt to use OTT platforms as a new medium to advertise their goods. To enable the demand of consumers and to complement the taste of consumers’ ever-changing expectation, service providers will customise edgy urban content along with providing a local touch. We are expecting a lot from this year as we are all set to launch Indian Originals this year with the best creative minds from the Indian film industry. Furthermore, we will partner with two to three production houses for Indian content, which will go live on our platform soon. Recently, we stepped foot in the Indonesian market, where we are looking at expanding our video-streaming service in South Asia. We have learned and grew with 2020, and this year we will see a gradual return to normalcy subtly cheering for one another. In 2021, we are keen to provide our target audience with the finest content that is fun and exciting.

Key learnings from 2020

2020 has been a year of learnings, change and growth. It has proven that nothing is constant but the change, and as a race we have embraced this change in the most effective way. The initial period was indeed challenging for everyone, but gradually we all found a rhythm to work cohesively and support one other. 2020 taught us that Health is Wealth, and we shouldn’t neglect it in any circumstances. The year didn’t give us a choice but to accept, and then adapt. It confirms that accepting difficult situations increases resilience and well-being. Last, but not the least, it made us realise that it is gratitude that leads to contentment, and not the other way around.