New Means of Entertainment: Web Platforms

Speaking of 2013-14. IPL time. Many enthusiasts could not watch the match as the match started around noon. There is no TV in all the offices! At that time, a mobile app came to catch the young spectators, through which the IPL game was broadcast live on mobile. Thanks to 3G, good internet was available in some cities at that time. The show quickly reached millions of viewers. If cricket is the religion of India, then IPL is its Durgapujo or Eid or Christmas or Ganpati festival. This live video broadcast is very important so that the youth do not stay away from this festival in any way. It is believed to be the first popular show on the 'OTT' platform in India in the modern entertainment world.

Let's move on to 2020. Corona and the year of lockdown. At this time when movies, theaters are all closed, people are necessarily in front of the TV. But there are also insects in the flower. Shooting is not happening so the channel authorities are not able to bring any new episode. The old Kasundi is going on there. Sports are off, there is nothing new to see. Visitors are necessarily Internet-savvy. There are still some programs or content unseen.

The incident started with Disney's new movie 'Scoob'. ‘Scooby Doo’ is a very popular animated character, a film made in that genre was supposed to be released naturally in movie theaters. By March-April this year. But all the halls are closed due to this lockdown. After waiting for a while, the Disney authorities decided that they would release the picture on their OTT platform or on the web. Although the animation picture, the budget is quite large. Lots of visitors were naturally attracted. The question is, will the OTT release on the platform attract enough viewers? How much bigger money will come out of this medium? The questions are not unreasonable. Assuming that a lot of viewers will see the pictures through this here, the price of the subscription is still so low that it is difficult to raise the cost of a commercial picture with it.

Again, it is true for the filmmakers that this audience attraction cannot be retained for long. After a picture has been made or a trailer has been released, they want the picture to be released as soon as possible and reach the audience. In this situation, the release of this Scoob movie through the web gave rise to many questions. So from now on several pictures will be released through this? Will viewers get used to seeing the first show here? Will enough money come up?

One by one, many Hollywood movies have been released through this new medium, according to various cinema houses. The issue suddenly came to the fore when Amitabh Bachchan starrer 'Gulaboon Sitabon' was announced to be released on Amazon Prime. The director, the producer, the actor, all of them announced the release with great enthusiasm. A new expectation is created in the minds of the viewers. Any new film by Amitabh Bachchan is a big event in the Indian film world. He is joined by actors like Ayushman Khurana, directors like Sujit Sarkar and a great story. This photo had a lot of audience attraction. Theater-cinema halls also considered the possibility of an infinite trade. That whole trade offer was ruined in the story of the release through the web movie.

We have seen how a number of multiplex companies have raised their voices against the trend of releasing pictures through this medium. This is not unexpected from their point of view either. They invest so much money that they have built modern and fancy theaters, if there are not enough spectators there is a lot of loss of that investment.

However, in the world of entertainment, it is fun, that from one medium to another, the audience, the artists, the crew can suddenly reach. Just like what happened during the transition from a single screen cinema hall to a multiplex theater. It is now clear that since there is no certainty as to when the lockdown of this movie theater will take place, the essence of Bollywood movies has to be released through the web. At least this year.

Only time will tell if this trend is right or wrong, or if this will be the rule in the future. Without going into that debate, we would rather see why people are able to move through this new medium very quickly.

These OTT platforms were created in North America primarily as an alternative to television series. Once the TV series aired, there was no chance to watch it again. This medium brings up those old series. So that new viewers can watch these popular serials, old viewers can also watch back if they want.

Simultaneously, TV series were available on this platform at the same time. Arrangements have been made for those who are unable to watch these programs on TV to watch them on their own time. Again there is no need to sit for a week for a new episode, watching one or more episodes together whenever the viewer wants. The kind of straightforward or continuous thing that television did was broken here. A new phrase was introduced, non-linear TV; The serial broadcast of that TV show is not linear, but he can move back and forth according to the needs of the viewers.

It’s a big find for the younger and urban generation. Their busyness, office commute time, social life; Finding time to watch a series at a certain point in everything - they were freed from this linear philosophy. So you could easily own this non-linear TV.

With this, however, the familiar process of advertisers changed abruptly. Viewers could easily avoid their ads. Or even if the viewer sees the ad, the model of how the ad can affect him at certain intervals every week is broken.

In keeping with the new life, a trend has also developed among the viewers, which we nowadays call binge watching. This means watching all the episodes of the series together in a day or two. The excitement that was created month after month was no more. However, in modern life, two days off after work five days a week, this binge watching brings a lot of new entertainment. This trend has spread to all small and big cities in our country.

After seeing this attraction of OTT platform, the filmmakers also started showing their pictures here. Not new pictures though. As soon as the episode of Theater Multiplex ended, the pictures started coming to these platforms. The CD or DVD has already died. So these platforms have emerged as the next source of income for movie theaters. Even though the picture is being shown on TV, it depends on which channel is showing that picture. But on the OTT platform, it is completely in the hands of the viewer. He will see this picture at his own convenience. This opportunity is a lot for the audience. Little by little, it continues to be a long-term source of income for filmmakers.

Which means it's about to be the most delusional time of the year, as well. Associated with other types of events or videos. Sports videos, especially matches that are very popular and memorable. Many documentaries or educational or informative video content on various topics. In a word, a viewer can get everything he wants through the eye, he is getting everything on one or a few OTT platforms. Getting the benefit of sitting at home or going to another place. Wherever he goes, his web platform is not getting away from him. The cost is also quite low. Just looking at a smart TV or computer or laptop or mobile and a good internet connection. This last issue may not be affordable across the country. There are no movie theaters or multiplexes in all the villages.

A large number of viewers, mainly young women or middle-aged urbanites, have long since turned their backs on TV. At least the content of the entertainment channels was not attracting them anymore. Moreover, the time to visit was not convenient. Entertainment programs are mainly shown on weekdays, in the evenings. At that time a large part of this audience was in the office or on the street. Even when they return home, they do not have the energy or desire to watch TV. The normal time of entertainment has also decreased a lot due to work pressure. So they were gradually moving away from TV. This new medium of entertainment filled that gap. First by bringing together popular viewers and giving them the opportunity to watch independently. After that, they started creating new types of programs themselves, which will easily attract the fifteen to fifty-year-olds in this city.

So far there has been no conflict with the TV. On the contrary, the TV channel authorities have also taken it as a means of promoting their own programs. The problem is when they start creating new shows on their own. The direct competition began. In just a few short years, web programs have become more attractive to many viewers than TV shows. But how is this possible?

One thing to note here is that every web medium knows their visitors very well. Since each viewer sees differently, and it is a digital medium; So all the information of that audience is going to the platforms. Which of his shows do you like, which ones do you dislike? Whether he is watching the whole program patiently, not watching it all at once, breaking it again and again, whether he is watching the whole thing, at last, all these information is getting to these platforms.

In that sense viewer information also goes to TV networks or channels, but no personal information goes there. It is only a matter of time before a certain group of viewers sees which programs they are watching. Neither the advertiser nor the channel network makes a very in-depth analysis of this information.

This is where this new medium has captivated others. He has the information of every spectator, the experience of watching every show. Again, this information is being analyzed in a very in-depth way, each viewer's own needs, likes, dislikes, dislikes - everything is going to be specified. This time they are either collecting their favorite shows from television or filmmakers or making their own shows.

What kind of program a viewer sees, whether it is a picture or a series, is very well analyzed. Not just comedy or thriller or action or romantic. This is shared in many more subtle ways. Is it more criminal or patriotic than a thriller, a teenage love story, or a middle-aged couple's love story, a completely urban or semi-mooseball story? In many such subtle parts, his likes and dislikes are specified.

Again, how many times does a visitor watch the program through the web every week, does he not watch Rose every weekend, does he watch it during the day or does he watch it in the office in the afternoon, does he watch it at home or does he watch it after college? Which era's picture is more preferred? Eighties, nineties, millennials, or just a half-baked picture? In this way, a viewer is constantly cut to know all his favorite tendencies etc. After that, he is continuously selected and recommended according to his favorite picture or series or any other show. What we call in the language of technology is recommendation. Let's say the preferred recommendation in Bengali.

Of course, this list of recommendations is not for every visitor. Here help is taken from very powerful computers and several types of machine learning algorithms. The team of information scientists is constantly doing these things for that platform and as more and more new program viewers are watching, their choices are being adapted accordingly. Very quickly this machine learning algorithm has mastered this adaptation of the viewer and is always able to recommend the viewer by choosing the most preferred program.

The fact that the show is a very personal and specific show is being recommended to the viewers on a regular basis, it is a very good way to hold the viewers. Even if you don't want to, a viewer knows what his next favorite show or picture might be. We have all seen that nowadays when we go to buy something online, we are shown many more products along with that product and in many cases these selections are also quite liked by the buyers. Many people buy from there, although the product may not be on his list. Here is the same game of selection and recommendation. In the same way that new products are recommended according to the buyer's choice in the online store, this online entertainment is also recommended to him in a new way.

The whole thing that runs through the computer system or algorithm is called the recommendation engine in the language of technology. In general, the better the recommendation engine of an online store or web platform, the greater its ability to attract visitors or buyers. Amazon, Amazon Prime, Flipkart, or Netflix are all dependent on this recommendation engine. Their team of informants is always active on how to make this engine more powerful, more accessible to the audience. In a word, information technology and information science are constantly trying to understand our entertainment in this way, making better recommendations, and perhaps even trying to control it in the end.

But it is not necessary to know a visitor well, he has to provide such programs. How to raise that amount of events? If we think of a large number of viewers, maybe everyone's choice is a little different. As such, it is not possible to organize or create a separate program for everyone. So what do these platforms do?

When the needs and preferences of a large number of viewers are known, the first task is to divide this audience into many smaller parts. Divide in such a way that each team is different from each other, in terms of their preferences or viewing tendencies. Again there is not much difference in demand and choice between the members of a team, they are all quite close to each other. They can be called homogeneous groups, or homogeneous segments in the language of information science.

If a sufficient number of programs can be arranged for each such group, then there is no question. Again, if it is found that there is a large group of people who do not have a lot of favorite programs on hand, then these platforms start creating such programs themselves. As we see in our country nowadays, criminal mystery thrillers, with a little bit of patriotism, a little bit of terrorism, etc., are in high demand. We see such programs coming one after another. New version of the same series. So that the remnants of the previous story can be retained, or the characters can be brought to the fore again and the attraction can be kept alive. Similar programs have been created on many web sites.

Again there was always a demand for urban comedy. Modern urban life, in many cases the life of a lonely man, is woven into such stories. So a number of such programs have been made. The appeal of passion, love, etc. to the Indian audience is constant, so these issues revolve around the Indian medium.

In the end, the main purpose of the entertainment world is to provide programs according to the needs of the audience. These web platforms can do it in a very smooth way, in a very specific way. Many of them have experience in building such platforms in foreign markets, they also have the information technology behind it. So with that kind of solution, they are able to establish themselves in the Indian market very quickly. Behind every successful web platform is its own ability to understand its viewers and its possession of the science of how much entertainment can be provided to them personally.

In this way, using modern information science, these entertainment mediums have come very close to the urban audience. There is no doubt that for the next several years they will be the mainstay of entertainment, at least in this category. Well known management company KPMG conducted a huge survey in 2019 on these online platforms in India. There they showed, the rise of these platforms at almost rocket speeds and how they have captured about twenty percent of all the entertainment market. They have announced with great certainty that in the next few years it will be about thirty percent.

In other words, no matter what the argument or debate, no matter what the outcome is good or bad, it is clear that this medium is not going to go away too soon. The platform will reign supreme in the future entertainment of Indian audiences.

*The author is an expert in information science, an entrepreneur by profession. Opinions are his personal

  Source: The Wall Bangla