“However, the last few years, especially the pandemic, has changed it all. “Until about 3-4 years ago, this perception was indeed a reflection of reality. “Over the last two decades, there has been a popular perception in the Indian media and entertainment industry that English content is niche, and targets only a segment of the audience within the upper echelons of the socio-economic spectrum,” said Ormax founder and CEO Shailesh Kapoor. The analyst is predicting further growth in the ‘English’ SVoD audience in India this year. Ormax’s research was based on in-depth interviews and focus groups from across Indian, and an online study that built on findings of the conversations. The Boys Season 3, Money Heist Season 5 and Stranger Things Season 4 also scored highly. Marvel (15.1 million) rounding out the top five.

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was Prime Video’s top title (22 million), with Hawkeye (19.3 million) next and Ms. Leading the way on content launched since 2021 was House of the Dragon with 28.2 million viewers, followed by Moon Knight on 23.4 million. The research also revealed that nine Western SVoD originals secured more than 10 million viewers in 2022, compared with five in 2021.

The split between SVoD (42.7 million) and AVoD (42.5 million) was almost exactly half.Īccording to Ormax, ‘Lockdown Millennials’ started watching Western content through streamers in the past three years, and are going beyond tentpole franchises to consumer a variety of formats. Ormax’s English Content in India: No Longer Niche report, created in partnership with Sony Pictures Television, estimated there are a total of 85.2 million urban Indian streaming viewers (15+) watching Western content.

Hotstar confirmed our scoop a month ago and the content fell off on March 31. However, as we revealed earlier this year, HBO content is set to drop off the streamer. House of the Dragon, the biggest driver, has been playing on Disney+ Hotstar. A boom in the availability of Western shows has driven the consumption, with titles such as Netflix’s Money Heist, Dark, The Crown and The Gray Man and Prime Video’s The Boys and The Wheel of Time as key shows for the important ‘Lockdown Millennials’ sub-set.

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