science

Over-the-top media services in India

Over-the-top media services in India is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Over-the-top media services in India rather than just read about it. In short: As per Govt of India, there are currently about 57 providers of over-the-top media services (OTT) in India, which distribute streaming media or video on demand over the Internet. History and growth The first dependent Indian OTT platform was BIGFlix, launched by Reliance Entertainment in 2008.

Key takeaways

Over-the-top media services in India belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Over-the-top media services in India to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Over-the-top media services in India from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

As per Govt of India, there are currently about 57 providers of over-the-top media services (OTT) in India, which distribute streaming media or video on demand over the Internet.

History and growth The first dependent Indian OTT platform was BIGFlix, launched by Reliance Entertainment in 2008. In 2010 Digivive launched India's first OTT mobile app called nexGTv, which provides access to both live TV and on–demand content. nexGTV was the first app to live–stream Indian Premier League matches on smart phones and did so during 2013 and 2014. The livestream of the IPL since 2015, when rights were won, played an important role in the growth of another OTT platform, Hotstar (now JioHotstar) in India. OTT Platforms gained significant momentum in India when both DittoTV (Zee) and Sony Liv were launched in the Indian market around 2013. Following the initial push of Regional OTT platforms like Aha, Hoichoi, Sun NXT, Planet Marathi, Chaupal & MX Player. The Indian OTT industry saw rapid transformation with the entry of global OTT companies such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video into the Indian market in 2016. Replacement of this competition with global enterprises caused local rivals to innovate in both region and hyper-regional content.

Hotstar Hotstar (now JioHotstar) is the most subscribed–to OTT platform in India, owned by JioStar as of February 2025, with around 500 million active users and over 650 million downloads. According to Hotstar's India Watch Report 2018, 96% of watch time on Hotstar comes from videos longer than 20 minutes, while one–third of Hotstar subscribers watch television shows. In 2019, Hotstar began investing ₹120 crore in generating original content such as "Hotstar Specials." 80% of the viewership on Hotstar comes from drama, movies and sports programs. Hotstar has the exclusive streaming rights of IPL in India.

Netflix American streaming service Netflix entered India in January 2016. In April 2017, it was registered as a limited liability partnership (LLP) and started commissioning content. It earned a net profit of ₹2020,000 (₹2.02 million) for fiscal year 2017. In fiscal year 2018, Netflix earned revenues of ₹580 million. According to Morgan Stanley Research, Netflix had the highest average watch time of more than 120 minutes but viewer counts of around 20 million in July 2018. As of 2018, Netflix has six million subscribers, of which 5–6% are paid members. India was not affected by Netflix's July 2018 increase in subscription rates for the US and Latin America. Netflix has stated its intent to invest ₹600 crore in the production of Indian original programming. In late 2018, Netflix bought 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2) of office space in Bandra–Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai as their head office. As of December 2018, Netflix has more than 40 employees in India.

Other OTT providers Sun NXT is an Indian video on demand service run by Sun TV Network. It was launched in June 2017, streaming in the Tamil language and six other languages. The platform has more than 4,000 Tamil movies and 200 Tamil shows, as well as regional movies and shows. Sun NXT also streams a large library of its own Sun TV shows and movies. Amazon Prime Video was launched in 2016. The platform has 2,300 titles available including 2,000 movies and about 400 shows. It has announced that it will invest ₹20 billion in creating original content in India. Besides English, Prime Video is available in six Indian languages as of December 2018. Amazon India launched Amazon Prime Music in February 2018. Eros Now, an OTT platform launched by Eros International, has the most content among the OTT providers in India, including over 12,000 films, 100,000 music tracks and albums, and 100 TV shows. Eros Now was named the Best OTT Platform of the Year 2019 at the British Asian Media Awards. It has 211.5 million registered users and 36.2 million paying subscribers as of September 2020. In February 2020, Aha OTT platform was launched, broadcasting exclusively Telugu content. In 2021, Planet Marathi became the first OTT platform dedicated to Marathi content in India, including web-series, films, music, theater, fiction and non-fiction reality shows. It is available for both Android and iOS mobile devices along with Android TV and Amazon Fire TV devices. Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit helped launch the platform. With rising interest for Korean dramas, Rakuten Viki saw its biggest jump of web traffic from India in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown, which led to ad localization on the platform. The OTT market in fiscal year 2020 was estimated to be worth $1.7 billion.

SonyLIV and ZEE5 In December 2021, Sony and Zee announced their merger, and announced plans to merge their OTT platforms. The merger was called off.

OTT services launched as Amazon Prime video channels The list is by alphabetical order, not by rank or popularity.

Content regulation

Due to the absence of any rules and regulation regarding OTT content, many OTT providers were accused of showing nudity, vulgarity and obscenity and hurting Hindu religious sentiments in their shows. Series which were the focus of controversy include Four More Shots Please!, Tandav, Paatal Lok, Sacred Games, Mirzapur Lust stories franchise, Rana Naidu. Thank You for Coming, and Annapoorani (2023). According to media reports, between 2018 and 2024, some OTT platforms emerged which started showing porn in the form of web series. Both the Supreme Court and Delhi High Court say that OTT regulation is necessary.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Over-the-top media services in India

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Over-the-top media services in India claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Over-the-top media services in India before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Over-the-top media services in India ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Over-the-top media services in India

In research: Over-the-top media services in India appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Over-the-top media services in India in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Over-the-top media services in India is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Broadcasting in India, Digital media, History of telecommunications, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Over-the-top media services in India outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Over-the-top media services in India in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Over-the-top media services in India means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Over-the-top media services in India out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Over-the-top media services in India in simple terms?

As per Govt of India, there are currently about 57 providers of over-the-top media services (OTT) in India, which distribute streaming media or video on demand over the Internet. History and growth The first dependent Indian OTT platform was BIGFlix, launched by Reliance Entertainment in 2008.

Why does Over-the-top media services in India matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Over-the-top media services in India?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Over-the-top media services in India.