The COVID-19 situation has brought situation like house lockup and it has slowed down the economy like never before taking its toll in the form of business closures, sweeping unemployment, increasing death toll, isolation and overall slowing down of mankind. But the effects of the pandemic in terms of strict lockdown in full force across many countries around the globe, boosted media consumption.  The OTT platform saw an immense boom in business. COVID enabled OTT video to be a major source of entertainment for viewers. In India Arre, Disney + Hotstar, Eros Now, BigFlix, Hooq, Netflix, Hungama Play and some thirty more platforms has mushroomed in majority households. One of the recent news in Economic Times says there are currently about 40 providers of OTT service, which distribute streaming media over the Internet.  

The OTT has disrupted the entertainment sector. It has made movie-watching convenient, handy and reasonable across all segment of the users. Anybody with a mobile phone and internet connection can catch-up with a movie sitting anywhere in the world. Not all households have PCs and laptops for each member; the pandemic has restricted movements of people making social life impossible. To add, shopping also means buying from one of the many apps that are offering home delivery services; from video conference calls with family, kids learning via online education to streaming online workouts, lots of things have changed. Post-pandemic, some of these habits are likely to stick. Companies that had been grappling with integrating technology have had to act quicker.

When life is turned topsy-turvy, what you expect people to do, the world is busy binge-watch TV shows and movies! A recent study showed that India is the cheapest country for mobile data in the world and that has played a key role in mushrooming OTT platforms.

OTT pricing is quite cheap delivered over the internet and does not require a traditional broadcast or cable video infrastructure to distribute it. For telecom, cable, media and content businesses,   OTT video subscriptions represent a new business model built around ongoing customer relationships.

Some factors that helped OTT platforms are:

Rising incursion of broadband

This played a key driver in accelerating the growth of the OTT video segment worldwide. COVID 19 especially has made governments realize the value of advanced connectivity and its applicability in use cases such as advanced telemedicine, remote working, and this played through augmented and virtual reality. It seems 5G has the potential to power mobile technology through increased mobile adoption and expanded high-speed broadband internet access via fixed wireless access (FWA). Therefore, Governments all over the world are investing in high-speed broadband initiatives to amplify broadband coverage and adoption. These initiatives have been playing a crucial role in OTT video success.

Accessible high-speed Smartphones 

By simply connecting their smart devices with the subscribed OTT services, viewers gain access to content anytime, anywhere, and on their device of choice. This is also aided by the fact that Mobile Network Operators (MNO), particularly in emerging countries in the APAC & MENA regions have accelerated the rollout of mobile broadband making MNO partnerships and designing of affordable packages. Customers have started gaining access to even more content on their mobile devices. Therefore, the mobile channel is quickly emerging as the most preferred video delivery platform as well as the predominant service distribution channel for accelerated growth.

Innovations in media streaming technology 

OTT video was born out of convenience in watching programs at any given time. People did not want to be tied down to specific times to view content. Instead, they wanted to view content at any time, any place, and on any device of their choice. This is the main reason for rise of OTT platform. Technology has played a pivotal role in the propagation of OTT video services. Complimentary features such as streaming services being cloud-based, support to Live-content with Video-on-demand (VOD), a large content repository, zero-buffering, adaptive bitrate streaming taking seconds of time only.

Customized OTT Apps 

Localization of content, a gamut of choices with regards to genre, titles, personalization, and flexibility of viewing on any device at any place and anytime has provided a seamless experience to viewers. From an OTT services provider perspective, such deep consumer insights gleaned from OTT apps helps them tailor their offerings by making data-driven decisions.

Innovative pricing models

 Amazon Prime Video is one of the most affordable OTT platforms in India. The service is priced at Rs 999 per year and at Rs 129 per month. Under these plans the company offers customers access to 4K content, unlimited downloads and access to a huge library of content. Innovative pricing techniques adopted by several OTT players have helped attract and retain customers on their OTT platforms.

Conclusion

OTT seems to be the new alternative to watching movies in theatres and many filmmakers are rethinking their distribution strategies for releasing their movies and reach out to a wider audience in a hassle free manner. During the pandemic due to the health scare OTT gained popularity. Filmmakers seem to be quite happy with the deal they are getting from the video streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Zee5, Disney Hot Star and the like. One membership is all that is needed for the entire family to watch several movies that too in the confines of their homes. There is no need about not getting a ticket to watch the first day first show, you have the option to pause and play, save a lot of money on transport and parking.

What is XOXO, TMI, SOL, ROFL, LMAO, RBTL or OIC?  Yes, these words sound dribbling and irksome but still they have become part and parcel of the lexicon. Our desktop messaging has shifted to our smart phones and tablets and spelling and grammar have gone for a toss. Hundreds of texting jargons have replaced meaningful information and the bizarre texting has made us lazier mentally as well as physically. They have added new tool of string to our communication; so much so that these days the examination answers sheets also consist of some of the texting language.  So friends, computers, laptops, iPads, iPods, and Kindles have some disastrous effects on today’s written and spoken communication. And lately, the abbreviated messaging has found its way into business communication.

The pen and paper is replaced with computer and mobile key board with an added icing – the smiley.  About 23 years ago on 3^rd Dec 1992, a young British engineer named Neil Papworth sent the world’s first text message from a computer to his boss’s cell phone. It read: “Merry Christmas” this brief and crisp message revolutionized communication globally. Today, more than million text messages are sent every second in the world. The old bulky mobile phones of the 1990s have progressed into multi-tasking smart phones and text messaging has become part of our daily interactions. A recent World Bank study estimated that about three quarters of the world’s population now has access to cell phones. Trillions of text messages are sent around the globe every day. Some experts says that texting may soon become a thing of the past, as more people turn to instant-messaging and voice-messaging apps on their smart phones.

Many studies show that texting and using other types of instant messaging such as Facebook or email actually hurts relationships. Though texting is a practical tool, it lacks tone, sentiment, facial expressions, body language, and eye contact completely.  Many times it causes misinterpretation, confusion, and sometimes even deception. It simply diminishes social skills of people. Words and phrases such as ‘whatever,’  ‘too much information’, ‘as far as I know’ and ‘end of discussion’ is commonly misinterpreted because it has more than one meaning. Texting is a too drab and dry style of communication.  In the world of business and professional writing, the figure 4 does not mean ‘for’ and 2 does not mean the same as to or too. I think because of too much of texting and always glued to their smart phones younger people even in face to face communication look emotionless, less interested and plain. In serious business communication these texting abbreviations and short-cuts have no place.

When you communicate through messages you tend to end your chat very soon. On the contrary, telephone calls and face-to-face conversations take longer time to end.  The reason is that you get tired while typing and talk to the point. Talking to the point is only a surface level communication as we are not aware of the emotional state of the person we are chatting with. Another reason why texting ends in short-cuts is because texting take a lot of time and you get tired while typing words. So you prefer to be crisp and brief while writing.

Shortcuts with spellings, punctuation and using engendered acronyms have spoiled the language skills of today’s generation. Do you know, texting interrupts brain function and takes away concentration? Texting distracts focus on work at hand. It does not allow peace of mind to work.

But, on the other hand, texting may prove beneficial to those who are introvert. They prefer just expressing their emotions in shortcut. But it will not allow them to come out of their shell. They will remain shy and normally, such people are seen with stammering problem as well. For many adults like me, the task of understanding text messages from the younger generation is often bothersome. I think smart phones are reducing productivity of people using it 24X7. It’s better to maintain distance with it little by little by developing some diversion.