New pick: ALTBalaji is debuting with six shows: five in Hindi and one in Tamil.
Move over Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. ALTBalaji, Balaji Telefilms’ new digital entertainment venture, is taking aim at the biggest players in the digital streaming market with original content developed exclusively for the 300 million smartphone-toting Indian users. After dominating Indian television, and even developing successful films, Ekta Kapoor’s latest venture is yet another attempt to capture the attention of the non-English speaking masses.
Think global, act local
With 250 hours of original programming planned for this year, ALTBalaji is entering the market with a near insurmountable advantage. Consider that Netflix, in comparison, produced 600 hours of original content globally in 2016. Moreover, despite an extensive catalogue of films and television shows, both Amazon and Netflix still have to deliver on their promise of producing India-specific content, much of which is still under development. Even the local competition like Hotstar is merely an extension of television with barely any original content either.
ALTBalaji, on the other hand, is debuting with six new shows — five in Hindi, and one in Tamil. Each show runs for 10 episodes, with an average runtime of 20 minutes each. Shows in other Indian languages are expected in the coming months. In all, 32 new shows are expected to be produced over the next 12 months, with a new show debuting every fortnight.
Manav Sethi, Chief Marketing Officer at ALTBalaji, is keen to stress that they’re not producing web series. “There’s a key difference between web series and a show,” he says. “We’re producing strong, character-based, broadcast quality dramas.”
Mr. Sethi insists that the quality of their productions is not easily found in a web series. ALTBalaji has invested in top flight directors such as Nagesh Kukunoor, and actors such as Sakshi Tanwar, Ram Kapoor, and Nimrat Kaur.
More bang for buck
According to Mr. Sethi, Balaji’s expertise in producing television shows helped immeasurably in producing these shows cost effectively. “India does not really have a studio culture like the U.S. So our past experience gives us a kind of template that helps us develop, say, 30 minutes of content at a certain price. This gives us an inherent competitive advantage,” he says. “In addition, Ekta undeniably knows the pulse of the audience. This is something that cannot be executed or conceptualised by someone sitting in Seattle, for instance.”
Despite having broadcast quality, Mr. Sethi says these shows will not be aired on television. Instead, they’ll remain firmly ensconced within the ALTBalaji’s mobile app, where five episodes of each show will be available for free viewing on its ad-free platform. The remaining episodes can be watched after purchasing a subscription.
ALTBalaji is pricing its platform well below Netflix, whose basic subscription costs ₹500 a month, and even Amazon Prime Video, that comes free with a subscription of its Prime service at ₹499 a year. ALTBalaji will offer all its content for ₹100 a month, ₹180 for six months, or ₹300 a year.
Mr. Sethi says that the shows are not meant for television audiences anyway. “With these shows, we are targeting a young audience: the 18 to 35-year-olds. For them, we’ve created a new, snackable format,” he says. These are the audiences, he explains, who no longer feel the tug of television; are often on the move; and own smartphones on which they regularly consume content. It’s a unique opportunity to reach a viewer one-on-one. It is unprecedented in Indian households where multiple television sets are unusual, and there’s often a tussle for the remote between family members.
ALTBalaji, on the other hand, is debuting with six new shows — five in Hindi, and one in Tamil.
Not only can viewers choose what kind of shows they wish to watch without having to argue with a family member, but they can also do it at their own convenience. Most importantly, they can do it in complete privacy. This has opened up the opportunity for ALTBalaji to re-think the nature of the content they develop, and to chart untested waters. For instance, Romil and Jugal, an upcoming show on the platform, explores same sex love.
“In a family setting, it was often difficult to explore such themes, because the sensibility of the entire household had to be considered,” he says. “I wouldn’t call it daring. But this is in tune with social and cultural evolution. And you have to be on the right side of it.”
Isn’t there a chance, though, that ALTBalaji is adding to the problem of content overload? After all, there’s just too much to watch, and that too on multiple, established platforms. Mr. Sethi agrees with the basic premise, but disagrees that ALTBalaji will get lost in the crowd. Instead, he points out that media consumption in English in India is still very niche. “Did you know that of YouTube’s 180 million subscribers in India, over 67% watched Hindi content? English content, on the other hand, accounted for only 7-8%,” he says. We want to cater to the 200 million who desire original content in regional languages.”