Shifting Discourse of Digital Entertainment in COVID-19: Investigating Revolutionary Consumeristic Strategies of OTT Platforms

Introduction

Our globe is digitally transforming from domestic to business at a rapid pace and has transformed the life of everyone and everything more convenient and comfortable. The internet has shifted communication to the digital realm by adopting technical breakthroughs like smartphones, laptops, and smart TVs. The medium of entertainment has entirely changed with the digital advancements and Covid-19 has impacted the conventional medium of entertainment such as televisions and cinema theatres. Though televisions are streaming diverse content, over-the-top (OTT) competes with television, at a much faster pace during and post covid globally. The advent of many private channels, HD channels and the internet results in 1.6 billion OTT subscribers in the world in 2023 which is expected to reach 1.8 billion by the end of 2023 (Pennington, 2023). People who were hesitant for subscriptions are attracted or forced to subscribe to Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video in surplus numbers during the Covid-19 lockdown. The global pandemic and work from home (WFH) resulted in loneliness and depression and people started binge-watching to get rid of it. Warner Bros. Discovery reported, 1.6 million users in Q1, 2022 surged to 94.9 million active sign-ups in Q3, 2022, to reach more than 130 million by 2025 (Forristal, 2023). The number of Disney+ subscribers also increased to 164.2 million, and the number of Apple TV+ paid members also increased (Pennington, 2023). The content across genres and needs is the ultimate key for lifetime subscribers, and “content services who want to acquire and keep subscribers every month, with low churn, must provide more than one kind of content, and/or offer more than one type of service” (Pennington, 2023).