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Mirroring The Industry: How far are we from transparency of digital viewership data?
With so many figures floating around the trade for all the direct to digital release, will we ever get a real picture of how films are faring on digital platforms? Is Pay Per View model the future of cinema exhibition? Pinkvilla discusses
The pandemic has changed the content consumption pattern, with multiple films taking the direct to digital route. The film premieres also got with them the culture of “figures”, as trade and fandom were curious to know how the films fared on the OTT platforms. Demand from audience to know the performance led to the media houses reporting the numbers that the content has grabbed on opening day as also opening weekend. While the OTT platforms never officially revealed the figures, the media often got hands at the number from some or the other source.
When Dil Bechara released on streaming platform, Hotstar, the media was flooded with reportage that the film featuring late actor, Sushant Singh Rajput has garnered 95 million views (9.5 crore views) in just 24 hours, however, there was no confirmation from the streaming player on this. Later on, another figure suggested that the romantic saga has got 23 lakh streams on the opening day, but yet again, it could not be verified independently from the officials. All the figures ended up being speculations.
A few months later, Akshay Kumar starrer Laxmii arrived on Hotstar, and right after the release, the makers officially announced that it has emerged the biggest opener of Akshay Kumar’s career till date, however, didn’t back the statement with any figures. The same led to speculations with multiple numbers circulating in the market, but nothing could be validated from the officials. Reportedly, the streaming platform fetched 900K subscribers owing to Laxmii, and grabbed 3.8 million (38 Lakh) views on the opening day. It’s been 6 months since the release of this horror comedy, but the figures are yet to be validated from the officials. While Dil Bechara was available as free content for everyone, Laxmii was available to the existing subscribers of Hotstar, meaning only the ones who have Hotstar subscription could watch it for free on logging in to the app. 
Almost six months after Laxmii came Salman Khan starrer Radhe but this time around with a new model, Pay Per View on Zee 5. Ever since the announcement, there has been confusion in the trade with respect to the accessibility of the model. To make it simple, the film could be watched once by every individual, who is an existing Zee 5 subscriber (6 or 12 months), or by anyone who pays Rs 249 on Zee Plex for one screening or anyone who buys the Radhe combo for Rs 499. Apart from this, the film was available on various D2H platforms on a pay per view basis, with every watch costing Rs 249.
Reportedly, the streaming platform fetched 900K subscribers owing to Laxmii, and grabbed 3.8 million (38 Lakh) views on the opening day. It’s been 6 months since the release of this horror comedy, but the figures are yet to be validated
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Just a day after the film’s release, the streaming platform, Zee, along with Salman put out a media release saying that the film has created history and got 4.2 million (42 lakh) views on the opening day, making it the biggest opener of all time. The official announcement was seen as a welcome change by everyone, including the author of this article, as this was the first time that an OTT player came ahead with viewership data. Soon after the announcement, the calculations went viral on social media with tweeples and some from the trade deriving a Rs 105 crore opening day (42 lakh * 249).
On doing a test check across the market and compiling information from various sources, even we have encountered multiple figures and that in itself was a valid proof of how we as an industry are far off the “digital transparency” that’s needed to evaluate the film. According to Zee, the figures of Radhe are calculated as per industry standards, meaning, the opening day figures were estimates taking into account various factors. In a nut shell, it was a model similar to what’s done in calculating the TRP’s of a film, wherein a figure is derived based on a test sample.
While Zee enthusiastically gave out the opening day figures, thereby taking a step to become a game changer, they didn’t give out a bifurcation between “paid” and “unpaid views”, from existing subscribers. Being a pay-per-view model, the social media as also the trade would have got a clear picture had the studio released just the “business” that it has done by sale of tickets rather than just putting out a vague viewership figure, that’s calculated based on “industry standards.” There’s also a weekend figure of Rs 240 crore, and an opening week figure of Rs 280 crore making rounds in the trade, which have been calculated based on the viewership data of 10 million.
Radhe has grabbed 1.7 million (17 Lakh) paid streams on opening day, with an extended weekend of 2.5 million (25 Lakh)...Radhe took an opening of Rs 42.50 crore, with an extended weekend of Rs 62.50 crore.
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Rs 100 crore day one, and Rs 250 crore weekend are some insane figures, probably competition with biggest films in the world and if these are the actuals, Zee should have put out the revenues rather than playing around the “views” based on “industry standards, as these massive figures that hold the power to take the social media by storm countering all negativity. But there have been no comments from them on the revenue. Another point to jot down is, if these revenue figures are true, multiple films would be jumping the bandwagon to sign a deal with Zee for hybrid release, as revenue from pay per view would certainly be higher than even a conventional theatrical release in non-covid times. Their future course of action from hereon in terms of acquisition will also give an indication about the potential of model in India as also the revenues of Radhe.
While we haven’t and rather can’t independently verify these figures, there’s a number that even we have come across. Radhe has grabbed 1.7 million (17 Lakh) paid streams on opening day, with an extended weekend of 2.5 million (25 Lakh). Of the 25 Lakh paid streams, 18 Lakh are on the digital world, with another 7 Lakh on D2H model. Radhe took an opening of Rs 42.50 crore, with an extended weekend of Rs 62.50 crore. This is exclusive of streaming for existing Zee 5 subscribers as also the ones who bought the Radhe combo for Rs 499. But as mentioned, this data has not been independently verified from officials. The above-mentioned figure too is a reasonable result for a film that’s debuting on pay per view platform, suggesting there is an audience to pay and watch the film at home, but all the speculations have led to expectations and this now looks like smaller.
But well, with all the confusion around in the trade and social media, it’s time for the streaming platform to come forward and speak of their business model. Because, no one but the stakeholders would know of how much money has Radhe earned. And with what has happened to the figures of all OTT releases, and the discussions around, one can easily conclude that the industry is far off from reaching the stage of “OTT Data Transparency” and it would be impossible to know the real picture until players themselves are honest and transparent enough about their business models. Till then, OTT will continue to be a vague ground for the industry, with no accountability. As for Radhe, as mentioned before, it’s just Zee who would know what the real figure is and we hope, they officially announce the revenues soon.
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