Business consultants say there’s certain to be an viewers overlap in such instances, as has been confirmed by the mannequin that has steadily been adopted in Hollywood for franchises corresponding to Star Wars and Avengers to increase the longevity of a model.
“Extending a franchise from the large display screen to OTT or vice versa permits for a richer, extra detailed narrative expertise. Streaming platforms present the possibility to delve deeper into characters’ motivations and backstories, making a extra immersive reference to the viewers,” mentioned Manish Menghani, director, content material licensing, Prime Video, India. “Audiences get one of the best of each worlds: the cinematic scale they love and the wealthy storytelling depth {that a} collection format supplies.”
The Indian Police Pressure marked an growth of Rohit Shetty’s cop universe into streaming, the place followers may benefit from the motion and storytelling recognized of in cinemas however with added layers and character depth that solely long-form storytelling can present, Menghani mentioned. IPF grew to become essentially the most binge-watched first season of an Indian authentic on Prime Video within the first week of its launch.
Likewise, Mirzapur has achieved pan-Indian fame, with the third season having been watched by Prime Video viewers in over 180 nations and throughout 98% of India’s pin codes on the launch weekend, that includes within the High 10 Trending checklist on Prime Video in over 85 nations.
“We’ve got not solely commenced growth of the fourth season but in addition felt that increasing the franchise into theatres with a movie can be an exhilarating cinematic expertise for followers, giving them an opportunity to delve deeper into the world and characters of Mirzapur,” Meghani mentioned.
The shift from streaming to the large display screen permits creators to construct richer, extra fascinating narratives for audiences. “Adapting profitable OTT collection into movies provides producers the possibility to dive deeper into narratives whereas tapping into loyal fanbases hungry for cinematic experiences,” mentioned Shruti Deora, senior vice-president of digital company White Rivers Media.
The core thought behind cross-platform franchise growth is to create a extra immersive, accessible world for audiences, mentioned Bhavesh Joshi, founder and CEO of MovieMe, a content material discovery app. “Shifting a beloved franchise from large display screen to small display screen, or vice versa, permits followers to interact with acquainted characters and storylines in recent methods. With OTT platforms, creators can dive deeper into character backstories and supply subplots that the unique format couldn’t cowl. It’s a means of extending the franchise’s lifespan and enriching the fan expertise,” Joshi mentioned.
As for the audience, whereas there’s a robust give attention to retaining the core fanbase, cross-platform codecs additionally enable franchises to draw new viewers, particularly those that could not frequent cinemas however are extremely engaged on streaming platforms, he mentioned.
The mannequin of cross-platform franchise growth is closely influenced by the Hollywood franchise method, and a few key examples on this class embrace Marvel, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings, in accordance with Sameer Jain, managing director, Primus Companions, a administration consultancy agency.
“This transmedia storytelling mannequin has confirmed efficient in partaking audiences throughout a number of codecs, together with movies, TV exhibits, animated collection, comics, and video video games. In India, this mannequin has nice potential as a result of fast development of OTT platforms and the altering content material consumption habits of Indian audiences. With platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ Hotstar gaining traction, particularly amongst youthful, digitally savvy viewers, there’s a vital urge for food for larger-than-life narratives and interconnected tales,” Jain added.
To make sure, leisure business consultants level out that in such instances, the core IP of a franchise stays with the unique creators or the manufacturing firm that owns the rights, such because the manufacturing home, director, or author. To develop the franchise’s attain, IP homeowners enter into licensing or distribution agreements with streaming companies, theatrical distributors, or different platforms. This ensures that whereas the unique creators retain management over the core rights, the platform or distributor pays for the rights to distribute and broadcast the content material, permitting the franchise to succeed in broader audiences.
The monetary advantages from these preparations are shared by means of a mixture of upfront licensing charges, revenue-sharing agreements, and performance-based payouts. OTT platforms could pay a set charge for streaming rights, together with bonuses primarily based on the content material’s efficiency by way of viewership and engagement. For theatrical diversifications of OTT content material, the income may be sometimes cut up between the manufacturing home, distributors, and the studio.
“The entire thought is to maintain the story going and provides followers extra methods to attach with the characters and plotlines they love. When a film turns into a collection (or the opposite means round), it faucets into completely different viewing experiences—the big-screen pleasure versus the comfort of streaming at house,” mentioned Sahil Chopra, founder and CEO of promoting company iCubesWire. “For creators, it’s a win-win: they get to maintain their viewers engaged with recent content material, and perhaps even herald new followers.”
