Evolving facet of Web Series amongst Indian Viewers

Viewing habits of people determine where the overall growth of any society.
If any brand or any marketer wants to understand any market it is mandatory to understand the culture of that society. Viewing habits are as important as the air people breathe, as the food people love. Culture specifically cannot be defined. It is like a black box which keeps on evolving and reflects different imagery from time to time. It is this imagery which all the marketers look upto to decode the consumers.

With the explosion of internet at a rapid pace in India even in rural areas, a certain dynamism has come into play. Today people can access any content sitting anywhere based on the prior knowledge in that domain. Tik Tok grabbed everyone's attention rapidly and what people now call themselves are "Tik Tok's" star. This is the power of internet touching lives of people untouched by their social status.

Since last few decades a phenomenon called "Web-series" has come into play. Just like the attention span of people has decreased so is their patience with the usual GECs on television which never reach their end. Viewing pattern of people have come out of the age. Remember the time when a cult movie " Jai Santoshi Maa" came. it used to re run on Indian television and people used to join their hands to pay respect to Santoshi Maa. From that era of viewership, people no longer watch sitting in a room waiting for evening time. They consumer content on the move.

 Lets pay attention to what all content has really won the hearts of Indian viewers since last few years.

S.no	Year	Title	IMDB Rating	OTT
1	2019	The Family Man	8.8	Amazon Prime
2	2018	Mirzapur	8.5	Amazon Prime
3	2018	Sacred Games	8.8	Netflix
4	2015	TVF Pitchers	9.2	TVF
5	2017	Inside Edge	8.0	Amazon Prime
6	2014	Permanent Roommates	8.6	TVF
7	2018	Flames	9.3	MX Player, TVF Play
8	2018	College Romance	9.2	Netflix
9	2016	TVF Tripling	8.6	TVF
10	2019	Kota Factory	9.2	TVF
11	2018	Breathe	8.5	Amazon Prime
12	2015	Bang Baaja Baaraat	8.0	Amazon Prime
13	2016	Sex Chat with Pappu and Papa	7.9	You Tube
14	2015	Baked	7.6
15	2018	Apharan	8.5	AltBalaji
16	2019	Criminal Justice	8.1	Hotstar
17	2016	The Aam Aadmi Family	8.5	TVF
18	2016	A.I.SHA: My Virtual Girlfriend	7.7	MX player
19	2016	TVF Bachelors	8.3	TVF
20	2019	ImMATURE	9.0	MX Player
21	2018	Yeh Meri Family	9.3	TVF, Netflix
22	2017	Laakhon Mein Ek	8.3	Amazon Prime
23	2018	Puncch Beat	7.6	ALT BAlaji
24	2018	Girls Hostel	8.6	Netflix
25	2019	Made in Heaven	8.3	Amazon Prime
26	2016,18,19	Little things	8.2	Netflix
27	2017	Sarabhai vs Sarabhai season 2	8.9	Hotstar
28	2018	Ghoul	7.2	Netflix
29	2018	Smoke	8.8	EROS
30	2019	Delhi Crime	8.5	Netflix
31	2017	Bose dead/Alive	9.1	ALT BAlaji
32	2019	Criminal Justice	8.1	Hotstar
33	2018	Lust Stories	6.5	Netflix
34	2010	Mahiway	7.9	Netflix
35	2019	Gullak	9.3	SonyLIV
36	2018	Rangbaaz	8.6	Zee5
37	2019	Final Call	7.5	Zee5
38	2019	Kaafir	8.4	Zee5
39	2016,17,19	Humorously Yours	8.7	MX Player, TVF App
40	2019	Bekaaboo	8.4	ALT BAlaji
41	2018	Girls Hostel	8.6	Netflix
42	2018	Engineering Girls	7.0	Netflix
43	2017,18	The test case	8.5	ALT Balaji
44	2015	Stories by Rabindra Nath Tagore	9.0	Netflix
45	2010	Rishta Dotcom	8.5	Netflix
46	2019	Coldd Lassi Aur Chicken Masala	8.7	Zee5 and ALTBalaji
47	2019	RejcctX	9.1	Zee5
48	2019	Criminal Justice	8.1	Hotstar
49	2018	Karenjit Kaur The untold story of Sunny Leone	8.1	Zee5

If we see the highest rated programs of each OTT as well as the average rating of the OTT we see that three players are really moving ahead and there is a similarity in the content which is winning the heart of viewers.

OTT	Avg	Best Web-series	Highest Rating
ALTBalaji	8.42	Bose dead/Alive	9.1
Amazon Prime	8.34	The Family Man	8.8
Hotstar	8.5	Sarabhai vs Sarabhai Season 2	8.9
MX Player	8.675	Flames	9.3
Netflix	8.25	Yeh Meri Family	9.3
SonyLiv	9.3	Gullak	9.3
Zee5	8.4	RejectX	9.1

Family themes still rules Indian viewers. Though Netflix has the maximum ownership rights for so many web series but others are not far behind. Just having the content don't suffice here, what is of importance is who has the foresightedness to understand how viewers are evolving with time.
If we see when the story of web series all started, majority of the content was from the genre comedy incorporating the topics like Marriages Live-in to start off. the youth was exploring life, lost and seeking assurance that its alright to be lost in the mace of life and be a part of the mockery..From there started the journey of Indian youth flapping its wings beyond the hometown boundaries. Friendship values became the pivot of understanding each other. The so called Generation Gap could be seen and hence breaking the boundaries was evident.

This humorous take on parent and children relationship took a leap with an experiment of "AAM Aadmi Family" which became a hit. Parents too evolved and became a part of this evolutionary relationship game. The content picked up a pace and moved towards the story of struggle of youth and comedy of course lived across the genres. The first attempt at web series which could be categorised as thrillers came to the surface. With Inside Edge and Bose Dead/ Alive this genre suddenly caught attention. Both of them became instant hit leaving other genres behind.
Though Sarabhai vs Sarabhai returned with its second season was not able to revive its magic as expected.

The aggression picked up the pace and when Netflix and Prime started airing other web series (non-Indian), the influence could be seen. viewers wanted more action, more drama, suspense, thrillers and hence the viewing pattern shifted at a rapid pace. The time when Game of thrones was the talk of the town people in India too were glued to the screen at US timing of the show. It became a cult. One of did not watch it was out of the world specie!!

This is how viewing habits force the content to change and it was quite evident in 2018 and 2019 upsurge of the violence in our content mixed with the sensuality. As till now there are hardly any rules on the content to be present just telling the age suffices.

However, amidst this what still flourished was the Concepts of family binge watch. Though the content was limited, it touched the chord. Shows like "Yeh Meri Family" and "Gullak" struck the chord with audience. "The Family Man" became popular and one of the most successful show of Prime till now.

What we see through all these viewing patterns is that though the internet has brought everyone almost on the same page but what we choose to watch determines where our roots lies. If Aggression is what people want to watch it means it already exists in our societies. We definitely need to retune the energies in the direction which can lead country on lost path. As per our demographics India is the youngest country with an average age of 26.8 there is lots which lies on the shoulder of the youth.

Since Image impression is the strongest where maximum utilisation of our five senses comes to play it is powerful enough to pave future way for anyone!!

Now who is next in the line who is hit by this revolution? of course the "Brands". 

Because of dynamic viewing of population,  brands needed to reinvent the wheel. The traditional way of advertising of buying spots on Doordarshan by standing in a queue to media agency buying spots on innumerable channels to moving to in brand placements and Influencers. Since web series are devoid of advertisements here brand placement plays a key role. But this really needs a knack to understand whether to put your brand in backdrop, long shot, close up or just some witty dialogue which become viral and plays the game for you.

People in any culture do not fall straight away for any brand just because of their intelligent communication to them, but most of the time it is some person who brings that brand in the circle of influence. If someone likes any person they blindly go by their words. Such is the trust of people who are adored by others. it is because of this reason that web series are built around the character. If viewers will fall in love with the character they will love it in every aspect.

How brands rung the bell in the best possible this we will discuss in our next article.

Till then keep reading :-)