Here is why new OTT releases are not happening in good numbers

Since May, sections of media have been talking about this and that film lining up for an OTT release.  Apart from ‘Krishna And His Leela’, no other Telugu mainstream entertainer has made it to OTT in months (’47 Days’ and ‘Uma Maheshwara Ugra Roopasya’ were too small and would likely have sunk without a trace in theatres).  Why are we yet to find a Ravi Teja film, a Sai Dharam Tej film, a Rana Daggubati film, an Anushka Shetty film, an ‘Uppena’, or even a ’30 Rojullo Preminchadam Ela’ on OTT?  Is it because the producers of these films are hell-bent on entertaining us only on the silver screen?

The answer may lie in a recent report by Firstpost.  It suggests that, barring one OTT platform (which will be streaming Nani’s ‘V’ and Suriya’s ‘Aakaasam Nee Haddhu Raa’), no other OTT platform is interested in Telugu (and south Indian films) for a variety of reasons.  If one video platform has budgetary constraints, another one is “not bothered” about south Indian films.  Yet another OTT platform’s focus is mainly (or only) Bollywood.

A recent report by film critic Baradwaj Rangan says that an OTT platform recently told Kollywood mediators/producers that it was “not keen on buying Tamil films, as its recent releases didn’t do very well, despite all the promotions.”

What do the above reports indicate?  Does it look like film producers are wasting the ‘golden’ opportunity of using the OTT universe to make money? It’s most likely that OTT is a challenge because it’s more organized and particular about profits than the gamed world of film distribution and exhibition.