Things have changed so drastically in the last two months that following lockdown and closure of theatres, demand increased tremendously for OTT (over the top) platforms. Almost all of them are showing interest in watching the original content in OTTs. Amazon Prime, NetFlix, Hotstar, SunNext, MX Player, Zee 5, AHA are witnessing lot of demand. However Amazon Prime is leading the race as it is making its presence felt in 4000 cities in the country and in over 200 countries across the world. Sources say there are more than 15crores subscribers for Amazon Prime across the world. Amazon prime subscription is Rs 129 per month and Rs 999 per year. Compared to other OTTs Amazon Prime subscription is cheaper and has quality content.
After the lockdown, even if theatres open, it is not clear whether people will watch films like in the earlier days. Amazon prime inorder to cash in to this situation has taken a sensational decision. Already it entered into an agreement to release 7 films and it acquired the rights investing huge amounts. If they release the new films, subscriptions will automatically increase. So they are planning to come up with Pay Per view. So, viewers in order to watch new films should apart from subscription charges also need pay extra amount for every new film.
Ram Gopal Varma is doing the same for his upcoming entertainer Climax. He priced it at Rs 100 per view. Though Amazon Prime is planning to introduce a similar system, it will be less than what RGV fixed. Many are heard commenting that OTTs are coming up with a plan to loot people.