Industry Odisha Bureau, Oct 21: India’s OTT market keeps attracting new bets from regional and niche platforms. But crowded competition and low earnings per user make turning viewers into revenue hard.*
New streaming platforms keep arriving in India despite a crowded field. Over-the-top (OTT) services deliver video directly via the internet. The newcomers are betting on connected TV and distinctive content. Yet low average revenue per user (ARPU) keeps monetisation difficult, The Economic Times reported.
Lionsgate Play founder Rohit Jain has launched Tiger TV for Hindi- and Punjabi-speaking viewers. Filmmaker Ankur Singla’s Brew TV aims to help independent filmmakers distribute their work. Regional players are also carving niches. AVR Cine-Max focuses on Kannada cinema. Vihari OTT offers Telugu travel and cultural content. Specialised content helps newcomers stand apart from larger rivals.
The audience is vast. Ormax Media puts India’s OTT audience at 665 million in 2026. Connected TV, meaning internet-enabled television, reached a base of 207 million. FICCI-EY estimates OTT revenue exceeded ₹27,000 crore in 2025. Media Partners Asia valued online video spending at $5 billion that year. Online video took 46% of total content spending, overtaking television’s 42% for the first time. That shift shows where money is moving in entertainment.
Audience size, however, is not the same as paying subscribers. Reach does not automatically translate into recurring revenue. Pricing must also stay affordable for cost-conscious households.
Tiger TV is aiming high. Jain targets 10 million subscribers and ₹500 crore in annual recurring revenue within three years. Annual recurring revenue measures predictable yearly subscription income. These are targets, not results. It has launched in 12 markets, including India, the US, UK and Canada. New Zealand and Australia are also on the list. Subscriptions cost ₹799 a year in India. Jain argued India’s size leaves room for any focused, clear-minded player.
Singla said releasing his film Ghich Pich in cinemas exposed broken distribution. Brew TV will host features, shorts, shows and vertical cinema, he wrote on LinkedIn.
An industry analyst, speaking anonymously, said connected TV growth and niche audiences attract newcomers. Niche apps are launching abroad too, but ARPUs there are healthier, the analyst said. In India, ARPU remains a big challenge despite the market’s scale. ARPU is the average revenue a platform earns from each user.
Competition is intense. More than 50 platforms operate, including JioHotstar, Netflix and Prime Video. Broadcasters, social media and microdrama apps also compete for attention and spending. Microdramas are short, episodic videos often watched on phones. Such fragmentation makes it harder for smaller platforms to retain paying users.
Distinct content may win viewers, but it does not guarantee profits. Retention, pricing and differentiation will matter as much as audience growth. For India’s newest streamers, the real test is turning reach into reliable revenue.
