Why do millennials prefer OTT platforms over traditional Theaters?

An impending question for sure. OTT platforms did exist in the pre-covid era but were on the ocean bed, the pandemic helped them to rise to the surface, almost becoming a life raft for the people to survive the pandemic. Within two years of lockdown they picked up the pace and there’s no looking back now. From movies ranging from the bygone era to the latest ones, from sitcoms, our parents used to watch or we were hooked on during our childhood, from our favourite cartoons to our superhero movies, from horror to stand-up comedy to action, covering every genre in every language, OTT wrapped everything in its fold and brought it on the tips of our fingers.

Millennials today are oblivious to the cinema culture we have seen in the 80s and 90s, where our pocket money would allow us just one movie (& one plate samosa) per month. Waiting for a favourite star’s movie and getting to watch it in time at the theatres was a different kind of rush altogether then months later waiting for the same movies to premiere on television. Entertainment was a luxury for us. Millennials have it real easy today. Lucky them!

This tug of war between the OTT platforms and traditional theatres is a tough one still. The current generation is a lazy one. They don’t want to make the kind of effort we had to make for watching a movie. Having been born on a bed of roses, everything comes easy to them, even entertainment! Their idea of fun and entertainment lies in staying in the comfort of their homes and Netflixing movies.

Having thought process generations ahead of us has its perks. Wasting more money on popcorn than the actual movie in theatres is a stupid notion to them (thank God for that). They love the fact that they can watch everything at their own pace without any interruptions. Movie time can be in sync with their academics schedule. And thanks to them every home now has a theatre. Talk about stranger things and stranger times.

If you have noticed, millennials are low-key introverts at heart, they love their own company, feeling safer at home rather than watching movies sitting beside strangers. One can blame the pandemic as well for the nasty habit it has gifted the kids. Online classes were as good as no classes which ultimately resulted in them watching their series all day long.

The boom of the OTT platforms served as a major paradigm shift in the way filmmakers were approaching their stories. The focus got shifted from standard vanilla Friday releases to streaming anytime on OTT platforms. Though the rush and anticipation of Friday releases somehow vanished due to covid you got to do what you got to do. Some business is better than no business at all. Matching the content consumption speed of the millennials was hard to match but filmmakers have now evolved multifold with this generation and creating content faster than you can count your fingers.

Trends also act as a catalyst for the OTT preference of the millennials. With the whole series of superhero movies, and K-dramas readily available on their television sets, the addiction is quite real. The millennial consumer is completely content-driven more than ever now. And these platforms stream never-ending customised content based on their watch history and preferences. Not forgetting the ease of watching it on any device at any time. What more could a millennial ask for?

Though the movie theatres are slowly gathering courage and opening up for the audience, the dominance of OTT platforms will be hard to compete with and beat. Theatre giants are leaving no stone unturned to come up with new and crazy strategies to attract their audience back to the big cinema experience by collaborating and providing larger-than-life experiences to them. Old school people are still loyal to the theatres and love watching movies on the silver screen. OTT will still score here as its audience tapping capacity is larger than theatres. Movies which are released on the OTT platforms cross at least 200 country borders in different languages, hereby reaching more a number of millennials in one go as compared to theatres.

Nonetheless, both shall co-exist eventually.

About the author:

Bhavik Mehta, Founder, Thinkin’Birds