Rana Daggubati on why he believes OTT platforms can’t replace the good ol’ theatre

• Speaking at the Business Insider Global Trends Festival 2020, Daggubati said that as humans we come from a generation of spectacle and the theatre will continue to flourish.
• He added that it’s the content that will decide which platform it will go to.
• Despite the pandemic, a recent report by PwC said that the Indian Entertainment and Media Industry is expected to grow at 10.1% CAGR to reach $55 billion by 2024.

There’s been a lot of debate in the OTT vs theatre war in India, with the subscriptions getting cheaper and India’s rising internet users. While many believe that OTTs and their convenience, especially during the covid pandemic, could leave theatre seats empty, actor and producer Rana Daggubati believes that the theatres aren't going anywhere.

As a man who dons hats from both sides – an actor and producer, his family also owns one of the biggest and oldest production houses in South India, Daggubati said the two platforms are different and will co-exist.

Speaking at the Business Insider Global Trends Festival 2020, Daggubati said that as humans we come from a generation of spectacle and the theatre will continue to be there as a place where you want to see the world in a very large format and be immersed. “Today, theatre technology, whether its 3D or IMAX has also become more immersive,” he said.

Daggubati breaks it down for us and says it’s the content that will decide which platform it will go to. “Cinema that is made specifically for the theatre will continue to exist within a limited time – for two-three hours and any drama which is driven towards a longer storytelling, the OTT will be the way to go,” he said.

And it will all be on the hands of the consumer. “You’ll be very defined even as a consumer what you go to the theatre for and what you would consume on OTT,” he said.

India’s entertainment industry and the influence of OTT

Despite the pandemic, a recent report by PwC said that the Indian Entertainment and Media Industry is expected to grow at 10.1% CAGR to reach $55 billion by 2024.

The COVID pandemic kept theatres in India shut for over six months, and after the initial resistance from OTT releases, big Bollywood names started to make their way to platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+ Hotstar. And even though theatres have opened up across the country, no major release has been released in the cinemas yet as people still seem to be skeptical of visiting them.

And this has led to a jump in consumption and number of subscribers in the Indian OTT space. According to the PwC report, India’s OTT market is on track to become the sixth largest in the world beating the OTT revenue from countries like South Korea, Germany and Australia. “Subscription video on demand will be the prime driver of revenue, increasing at a 30.7% CAGR from $708 million in 2019 to $2.7 billion in 2024,” said the report..