From Laxmmi Bomb to Bhuj, is this the right time for OTTs to introduce pay-per-view in India?

An OTT platform in India is already experimenting with pay-per-view model

Maryam Farooqui

July 19, 2020 / 14:27 IST

Do you know that on July 31, there's a digital clash between as many as three films, including Vidya Balan's Shakuntala Devi on Amazon Prime Video, Raat Akeli Hai on Netflix and Lootcase on Disney+Hotstar.

Plus, ZEE5 will be releasing Yaara a day earlier on July 30.

While theatres are shut, there is no dearth of new content. From big to small, OTTs are getting all the new and fresh films for their audience.

In this scenario, when the audience can not only watch new films but also have plenty of options, just like in theatres, can OTTs give pay-per-view a shot?

Experts say the time would be right as a viewer in any market, both international and India, would shell out money for brand new content.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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