Local OTTs step up its efforts, hope to rise to the occasion

Antara Raisa

Bangladeshi OTT platforms have ramped up its efforts in the recent times including producing original and more intriguing contents in the wake of the growing popularity of the streaming sites and live up to the expectations of the subscribers.

Different streaming sites, widely known as OTT platforms, are literally on fire as the meteoric growth of these platforms and rising popularity attest the fact that OTTs are here to stay. The number of people who binge-watch series or movies on OTTs has inched up dramatically in manifolds since the pandemic confined cross-sections of people within the four walls.

For so long Bangladeshi users have been streaming sites like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Telegram to satiate their hunger for entertainment.

In 2020, there were around 2.5 lakh Netflix subscribers in Bangladesh. Netflix has been earning a huge amount of money from these subscribers without investing a single penny in the local market.

Realising the boom and vibe, many local OTT platforms have stepped in the last few years. Platforms such as Bioscope, Binge, Cinematic, iTheater, Bongobd, BanglaFlix have surfaced, some as independent providers while some others as a part of the telecom operators. These sites are producing dramas, web series and web films in accordance with the tenets of our own culture.

The Business Post contacted top officials of different local OTT platforms, all of them expressed their long-term vision to tap into the potentiality of video streaming sites in consideration of the large base of subscribers.

Bongo was awarded the Most Popular Streaming Platform in Bangladesh by the CJFB (Cultural journalists’ Forum of Bangladesh) Performance Award 2020. It has around 4.3 million subscribers and boasts an array of movies, telefilms, drama series, music videos, and more. In 2020 alone, they licensed and produced 221 hours of content for their platform. They also offer the largest Bangla entertainment library.

“Last Eid-ul-Fitr we have launched the first season of BOB which means ‘Based on Books’ content. We created seven original web series based on the story of seven books and we got huge responses from the audience. Now we have a plan to expand our original content library based on BOB series. We have dreams and plans to make dramas, telefilms as well as films very soon through Bongo BOB series,’’ said Vashkar Abedin, Deputy Head of Content at Bongo.

Another OTT platform Binge has come into the limelight with contents titled ‘August 14’, ‘Tiger of Sadarghat’ and ‘Boomerang’. They want to produce more original contents so that the audience can relate to the story more vividly.

Layas Amin, Brand Manager of Binge, told The Business Post, “The number of subscribers has increased a lot in the last few months. We can say that the subscription is continuously growing even after lockdown.”

“We have launched a campaign on Pahela Baishakh called ‘Baro Mashe Tero Dhamaka’, which means we will release 13 original contents in 12 months. We have already launched three contents under this campaign titled ‘Batch 2003’, ‘Borofkoler Golpo’ and ‘Kiss of Judas’. Out of these, ‘Kiss of Judas’ has got huge response from the audience”, he added.

After the success of ‘August 14’, ‘Janoar’, ‘Kuhok’ and ‘Taqdeer’, the producers and the directors are now fixated on producing good contents instead of making traditional dramas with hackneyed storyline.

“OTT platforms have great potential in Bangladesh if they proceed with proper business strategy and long-term plan. If I get stories like ‘August 14’ in future, I will direct web series. At present, our audiences do not show interest in the dramas based on traditional stories. They want to watch more original stories,” said Shihab Shaheen, who directed the popular web series ‘August 14’ and ‘Kuhok’.

“Our local OTT platforms have to invest more to produce more innovative contents. They should map out a long-term goal to thrive further,” Shihab Shaheen added.

Another OTT platform Cinematic started its journey three years ago. ‘Janowar’ and ‘Troll’, two of their web series released recently, are making rounds everywhere. Two more web series titled ‘Bilap’ and ‘Devil’ are in the pipeline. This is the only platform that produces content itself instead of outsourcing it, and it gives priority to Bangladeshi stories, directors, actors, and crew.

“As we are completely local story-based platform, we focus on deshi stories more. We are expecting to give more original contents to the audience in the near future”, said Tamjid Atul, Managing Director, Live Technologies, and creator of Cinematic.

Well, local OTT platforms are very affordable as well. One can subscribe for Bioscope at BDT 9 per day while other platforms also charge a minimal amount.

However, industry stakeholders feel that local OTT platforms will remain buoyant only if Bangladeshi subscribers turn to these sites.