70% of Indian viewers frustrated with OTT players, says study

Nearly 70 per cent of the Indian viewership are frustrated with the viewing experience as a result of the growing number of video OTT players trying to decide what to watch.

The Streaming's Next Act: Aggregators to play a starring role in making consumers happier also threw up these figures: In addition to the challenge to find something to watch, the Streaming s Next Act: Aggregators to play a starring role in making consumers more happy, consumers in India also think 60 per cent of the content they are paying for is not relevant to them. As many as 46 per cent of those surveyed said they spend more than six minutes looking for something to watch. A whopping 81 per cent said that they wished their profile could be shared with another service that may offer them better, more personalized content.

It has 500 respondents from India.

As the content space matures in India, the next step for players to differentiate themselves may be to invest in making their recommendation engines more intelligent to sharpen personalised content suggestions and look into content aggregation, according to the study.

Most Indian OTT platforms have tried to differentiate themselves through content, and most of their investments have gone into flagship titles. This needs to change with changing viewing patterns and be factored in scenarios like shared viewing. According to Neeraj Sharma, managing director of Communications, Media and Technology, Accenture in India, these platforms need to focus on consumer experience and product features for the next phase of growth.

The research found that content aggregation can address this concern by unifying access across streaming services through application software, services and data-sharing agreements. Aggregators can also foster flexibility and personalisation for viewers by serving as a platform with curated content that allows them to choose exactly what they want to watch, it said.

Amazon Prime Video in India has already delved into content aggregation. In September, it launched its Channels vertical in India by partnering with eight other subscription-based OTT video streaming players whose content can be viewed on its platform.

The head of Prime Video Channels, Chaitanya Divan, said a single interface for discovery, streaming and payments is a key need for customers as content choices explode.

India already has more than 40 OTT apps, even as newer regional players enter the fray every few months, offering a wide range of content in a variety of formats, languages and payment models.

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