In 2025, India’s OTT industry found itself at an inflection point. The year was marked by the global success of Indian stories, a sharper focus on returns, and a clear realisation that scale alone cannot guarantee profits. Platforms doubled down on differentiated strategies—premium storytelling, mass reach, advertising-led models, and regional depth—while recalibrating content spends after years of exuberance.

As Neeraj Roy, Managing Director, Hungama Digital Media, noted, the ecosystem itself is entering a more mature phase. “By the end of 2025, the Indian OTT ecosystem has crossed 100 million active subscribers across direct and bundled offerings, and this base has the potential to grow to nearly 250 million by 2030,” he said, underlining both the scale achieved and the headroom ahead.

A year of measured growth, not frenzy

After the post-pandemic boom-and-bust cycle, 2025 emerged as a year of stabilisation for Indian streaming. Subscriber growth continued, but at a more deliberate pace. Advertising gained importance for most platforms, except Netflix, which remains firmly subscription-led in India. Content investments were more selective, with platforms backing fewer but higher-conviction titles.

This shift was also shaped by changing viewing environments. Roy pointed out that the next wave of growth will be driven “not just by smartphones but increasingly by connected TVs and larger screen experiences,” as OTT moves decisively into Indian living rooms and bedrooms, becoming a mainstream family viewing medium rather than a niche, individual one.

Indian originals continued to travel globally. Prestige series and films helped India maintain a consistent presence in global non-English charts, while mass-market titles drove scale at home. Platforms also leaned into franchises and repeatable formats rather than one-off big bets.

OTT vs theatres: Two businesses, two logics

OTT and theatrical releases now serve clearly distinct purposes. Theatrical is increasingly about spectacle, event films, and opening-weekend economics. Streaming, by contrast, is about long-tail consumption, completion rates, and sustained engagement.

As Saugata Mukherje, Head of Content, SonyLIV, noted earlier this year, films that once vanished after a weak box-office run are now finding “a fresh lease of life” on streaming, where success is measured over weeks and months rather than days. OTT has become a habit, not an occasion—an everyday medium rather than a planned outing.

Roy echoed this divergence, observing that the theatrical business remains “highly unpredictable in the post-Covid era,” with box office performance increasingly volatile. In contrast, OTT offers “a more predictable risk-return equation, faster feedback loops and greater flexibility for experimentation,” making it a more sustainable business model for many kinds of content.

This has also shifted creative risk. Streaming platforms are more willing to back quieter, intimate, or regionally rooted stories that may not justify a theatrical release but resonate strongly with defined audiences.

The economics reset: Smarter spending, clearer RoI

After years of aggressive commissioning, 2025 reinforced the need for economic discipline. Content hours declined, star fees were moderated, and commissioning decisions were increasingly tied to expected audience size and engagement.

As Monika Shergill, Vice President, content, Netflix India, put it, “For us, making something cheaper is never the goal. Making something better is always the goal.” She emphasised that Netflix programmes across a spectrum—from large-scale spectacles to intimate stories—while carefully sizing investments to audience potential. Engagement, not raw subscriber additions, remains the key metric.

Roy framed this shift as an industry-wide correction. “From a monetisation standpoint, we are seeing a more balanced mix of SVOD, AVOD and bundled subscriptions, with advertising-led OTT gaining strong momentum,” he said, adding that content investments are becoming more disciplined and IP-led, with a sharper focus on scalable storytelling rather than sheer volume.

At Amazon Prime Video, the strategy is built around depth and frequency. Gaurav Gandhi, Vice President, Prime Video Asia-Pacific & MENA, has said the platform focuses on how often users find something new to watch and how deep the library is. The integration of MX Player into the Amazon ecosystem has further strengthened its advertising and mass-reach play.

Meanwhile, JioHotstar continues to lean on scale and sports. Cricket remains its biggest subscriber magnet, but retaining users beyond marquee events like the IPL remains a central challenge. The platform is increasingly blending catch-up TV, premium content, and user-generated formats to widen engagement.

Regional, younger, lighter: Content shifts in 2025

One of the strongest trends of 2025 was the acceleration of regional and language-first programming. Platforms reported that Tier II and Tier III cities, along with connected TV adoption, are now central to growth rather than incremental.

Raghavendra Hunsur, Chief Content Officer, ZEEL & ZEE5, said audiences are choosing “depth and cultural relevance over volume.” He pointed to strong performance from regionally rooted dramas and noted that non-Hindi consumption is now a major driver of watch time.

At Sony LIV, Saugata Mukherje highlighted growing investments in South Indian languages and the need for lighter, more accessible genres. Industry leaders also flagged a content gap for young adults, arguing that streaming has yet to fully replace the cultural role once played by youth television channels.

Roy identified micro dramas as the most disruptive trend ahead. “This is the first major storytelling shift in over two decades,” he said, noting that the format—driven by mobile-first, vertical viewing—has the potential to bring stories from middle India and Bharat to the forefront, creating a powerful new cultural and commercial opportunity.

Micro-dramas and short-format experiments gained traction in 2025, particularly for mobile-first audiences. Platforms like ZEE5 and Amazon MX Player began testing these formats without abandoning long-form storytelling.

Advertising, partnerships, and pricing

For most Indian platforms, advertising is no longer optional. Brand integrations, narrative-led sponsorships, and hybrid AVOD-SVOD models became more sophisticated in 2025. Amogh Dusad, Director & Head of Content, Amazon MX Player, said advertisers are increasingly seeking deeper integration. “Brands today want to be part of the storytelling journey, not just appear alongside it,” he said.

Roy added that the industry is also witnessing early signs of a new monetisation layer beyond subscriptions and advertising—community-to-commerce. Over the next few years, he believes this could unlock sustained growth and reshape how platforms engage with audiences.

Pricing, however, remains sensitive. With India’s digital ad rates still relatively low and consumers highly price-conscious, platforms are experimenting cautiously—with rentals, ad-supported tiers, and bundles—rather than aggressive subscription hikes.

Netflix remains an outlier, with no immediate plans for advertising in India. Shergill argued that the platform’s value proposition lies in consistency and quality: “A member who signs up today gets access to everything that has ever dropped on Netflix. The value has to feel unquestionable.”

Outlook for 2026: Fewer bets, deeper impact

Heading into 2026, the Indian OTT industry appears more mature and more realistic. Growth will continue, but it will be measured. Regional storytelling, connected TV, and format innovation will drive the next phase, while profitability pressures will keep content and acquisition costs under scrutiny.

Over the next decade, Roy believes OTT and digital platforms will increasingly rival—and in some cases surpass—traditional broadcast television in reach and relevance.

The consensus across platforms is clear: OTT in India is no longer about land-grab expansion. It is about building loyalty, sustaining engagement, and balancing creative ambition with commercial prudence. Indian stories have proven they can travel the world. The challenge now is ensuring the business behind those stories travels just as well.