By Kunj Sanghvi
Currently the second-largest with over 1 trillion streams, India is on track to becoming the largest streaming market globally, overtaking the United States of America (1.45 Trillion)*. For a nation that has only 34% of its population employing these services, this is an unmistakable sign of its potential. With this, adjusting to the one-of-a-kind Indian tastes & sensibilities when it comes to content themes becomes all the more crucial for creators & OTT services alike.
In its 78th year of Independence, India has unlocked yet another liberty for themselves, the freedom to be entertained on their terms. From consuming simply what was being served to them, to becoming a demanding, tantrum-throwing toddler, the Indian audience is entering a golden period of variety and customisation.
Will Indians favour stories that take the protagonist from Rags to Riches, or find modern ways to romance their beloved? Will the thrill of discovering conspiracy theories outdo the rush of uncovering gruesome crime mysteries? As the digital media market stands to cross $11 Billion by 2026 with only 52% of the population using the internet as compared to 94% for the USA*, let’s find out which sub-plots will be binge-able and which tropes will no longer entertain the Indians of tomorrow in this bit of crystal ball gazing.
Not plain facts but a story told
Despite a steady CAGR of ~3.3% for non-fiction content in India, it is poised for a makeover in treatment. YouTube influencers in the Self Help and Personal Finance space are withering away. The market has matured and requires nuance and contextualisation. Straight-up facts will no longer capture the audiences’ attention, as they will be more receptive to the truth when told as a story with interesting characters and plot twists. One can especially see this trend picking pace in the History, Biography, and Self-Help genres.
Talk as they talk
As per some studies, the availability of regional content can boost the growth of internet in India by 24%. For the Indians of today, they don’t want a random white man from a faraway land pontificating to them – they want ideas and stories to be transmitted in ways that reflect their cultural milieu and vocabulary.
Love stories poised for a comeback…with a twist!
After a near decade of being reduced to a plot point in action or thriller-led narratives, trademark love stories will be back and bigger than ever, but not with classic plot devices. Audiences will seek adventure, quirk, darkness, and a bit of forbidden flavour in their tales of romance. Gone are the days of vanilla meet-cutes, now let’s talk about darker, more real aspects of love that are too taboo to discuss in the family living room.
It’s the time for patriotica
A young nation with a decent growth rate, destined by some to be the next dominant global power, usually goes through a phase of mythmaking/nationalistic fervour. Just one look at the biggest hit films of today and you will see that patriotic treatment runs through almost all of them. War movies, historical dramas, sports dramas are only the surface of it. There are corporate, political, scientific, artistic, social patriotic stories waiting to be told and we expect that to grow manifold in the coming year.
Always on the edge of their couch
Such are the times when fiction-induced anxiety will actually relax and entertain the masses. Deep-diving into a thrilling crime mystery, the twists and turns of fate and the whodunnit tales will continue to engage the audiences. Here, like horror, the overdone plot formulations of OTT platforms will be challenged. This space needs fresher work to sustain its historical advantage. True crime stories will also continue to be a popular sub-genre in the category.
Our heroes don’t change
As society becomes more feminist with education, the most popular male characters would continue to be more fantastically pompous badasses than realistic beta males. Whether they’re the man in charge or complete misfits, they would have confidence and control in common. Alpha archetype-inspired characters – your ‘billionaires’, your rebellious mavericks, your not-always-nice traditional gentlemen will provide an escape for men raised spoiled by doting mothers and now facing a much-transformed world.
Not a delicate damsel anymore
Female archetypes who will top the popularity charts would be strong yet chaotic – kind of like a thunderstorm. Gone are the fair maidens, the damsels in distress, these leading ladies would reclaim their power and sexuality, be independent, and go after what they want with absolute gumption. They will be the Queens, the Huntresses who will only be submissive to the men that they respect and choose, their ‘Pasandida Mard’ (If you know, you know).
Turn your gaze eastwards
The best work in storytelling used to happen in a Hollywood studio but not anymore. Whether it’s the Japanese animes, K-dramas from Korea or the webnovels from China. India’s young people are turning eastwards in their hunt for content that has been created for their digital-first, fast moving, low loyalty consumption style
Oh My God!
India is a forward-looking superpower but with a quirk. It also looks back! Our sources of inspiration are often deities and scripture and our sources of entertainment are often epics and legends. As India gets educated and digitally penetrated, India will consume more of mythology and I expect India to also get better at exporting mythology. India’s high success in VFX and Gen AI tooling will also help give cutting-edge technology for India to build these stories on. With the release of Kalki recently and soon-to-come Ranbir-starrer Ramayana and Ranveer-starrer Hidden Hindu, it could be a breakout moment for Indian Mytho-Fantasy becoming a core Indian IP export all over the world.
Always curious, always learning
The more we discover, the more we realise how little we know. India will continue to explore the world of educative and informative content – whether it is to support their ongoing educational preparation or just to satiate their curiosity. The top genres for knowledge consumption would be Philosophy, History, and Geo-Politics.
At Kuku FM, we release more shows than all video OTTs combined. And hence we get to put out a wider variety of genres and narratives and our insights on what Indian audiences want gets compounded much faster. With the advent of Gen AI, we expect audiences to be flooded with formulaic, rehashed content made carelessly. In this flood, the only way to win is to consistently build a pipeline of fresh, unique stories that make the audience take notice and feel something.
Imagine having to create stories for a monolithic, culturally homogeneous, uncomplicated country. How boring would that be? Grateful that we get to work for the glorious mess that is the Indian populace. On to the next exciting episode of this blockbuster of a nation, shall we?
The author is vice president, content, Kuku FM (Views expressed are the author’s own and not necessarily those of financialexpress.com)