The medium has become the message. A combination of transformative technology and changing viewing patterns has spawned a new method and mode of entertainment that is taking India by storm.
The new paradigm is called OTT, tech jargon for over-the-top media streaming platforms that provide audio and video content over the internet. The young and the old, especially in cities, have so taken to platforms like Netflix and Hotstar that OTT itself has become urban slang, along with related phrases like binge-watching (watching multiple episodes of a programme in rapid succession) and ‘Netflix and chill’ (watching Netflix with a romantic prospect).
Another buzzphrase is ‘cutting the cord’, which refers to disconnecting cable and direct-to-home subscriptions and getting your fill of entertainment purely through OTT. “I have cut the cord; I now watch only OTT platforms,” said Mehak Joshi, who works with the ad agency FHO in Delhi. “I am a busy person. I want to watch short films or limited series—stuffthat I like—at my convenience.”
Mehak is in her twenties, but the OTT craze is not limited to Gen X, Y and Z. “My grandmother in Punjab has also quit watching TV,” she said. “She now watches the stuffshe wants to watch, on-the-go, on her smartphone.”
Jeetender Kumar, a housekeeper at a condo in Gurugram, asked his employer for an extra Diwali perk as he got his festival bonus and prepared to leave for his home in Uttar Pradesh. “I asked saab for his Amazon Prime Video password, so I could watch some of the Hindi shows [on the OTT platform]. They are quite slick and edgy!” Kumar said.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 08, 2019-Ausgabe von THE WEEK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der December 08, 2019-Ausgabe von THE WEEK.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Angry, Young America
Campus protests against the Gaza war continue to linger as students demand a realignment of US ties with Israel
We need to engage more with communities
Designer Aratrik Dev Varman of the label Tilla has long been a lover of history. One could comfortably call him part-aesthete, part-archeologist, for his clothes dip into vintage styles of the Kutch, Sindh, Balochistan and Afghanistan, bringing alive antique styles and crafts. Tilla, the store and atelier, are situated on a tree-lined avenue in Ahmedabad.
The great luxury slowdown
A year or so ago, if anyone had told me that Tommy Hilfiger would have stolen the show at New York’s Met Gala, I would have laughed. But it seems the end of giant luxury labels is upon us even before we expected it. The American ready-to-wear designer Tommy Hilfiger seems to have created the maximum media buzz at the 2024 Met Gala, according to several data analytics firms.
RAP BRINGS RAPTURE
How indie artistes, especially hip-hoppers, are driving the phenomenal rise of Malayalam music
Employability issues are a narrative created by the corporate world
Prof Yogesh Singh is the 23rd vice chancellor of the century-old University of Delhi (DU). An engineer with a PhD in computer engineering, Singh has an impressive track record of teaching, innovation and research in the area of software engineering. He has more than 250 publications and his book, Software Testing, published by the Cambridge University Press, is well-received internationally. In an interview with THE WEEK, Singh talks about trends in higher education in India, the challenges faced by big universities, and how to make higher education more interesting. Asked about the perception that Indian graduates are “not employable”, he reacts strongly, and emphasises the difference between training and higher education. Edited excerpts:
SERVING WITH DISTINCTION
Conceived as a university like no other, Jawaharlal Nehru University became India's best. Here is how
Mandela Effect and Liar's Dividend
The complex tapestry of AI's impact on society
The other Sabyasachi
I am Sabyasachi Mukherjee, not to be confused with my namesake, the celebrated fashion couturier, declared the venerated director-general of Mumbai’s pride, George Wittet’s Indo-Saracenic jewel, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, formerly known as the Prince of Wales Museum.
THE MANGO HUNTERS
'Naadan Maavukal' started out as a Facebook group, but what it does offline has helped conserve many indigenous varieties of mangoes
BJP LEADERS, TOO, HAVE HAD ENOUGH
Farmers’ protest has taken the centre stage in Haryana, which goes to the polls on May 25. Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is confident that the Congress, which has been out of power for 10 years, will regain its hold on the state. “People who voted for the BJP are disappointed today. It is clear that they want change,” he told THE WEEK.
