As per the recent studies, at least seventy percent of the audience is not impressed with the threats sent across the artists, directors, and producers of the movies and shows on the OTT platforms.
Audience Reacts To Death Threats Over OTT Shows
As per a survey conducted by the LocalCircles, shared the audience’s reaction towards the threats of intimidation and death to the artists or the team of the shows. The report said that at least fifty-eight percent of the total participants said that they were quite concerned about the threats that the directors, producers, and artists receive for their shows and movies. Then around fifteen percent said somewhat and then around twelve percent said that it doesn’t affect them much.
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Many of the members who participated said that the threats should not have had a space in the society in the first place. They further said if such cases are not regulated by law then it will only increase with time.
Series/Movies Team Receive FIRs and Death Threats Over OTT Content
Recently, actress Richa Chaddha received a brutal death threat for her OTT release, Madam Chief Minister. The person openly gave her a death threat and said that he would chop her tongue off and would pay a reward if anyone else does it. The person condemned the way Dalits were portrayed in the movie. While many celebrities condemned this, the Bhim Army which is a Dalit party and has a national presence, also condemned the act.
Richa Chaddha then took to Twitter to say that she is not scared of such threats.
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Tandav also faced a similar bash. The series received FIR against the cast crew from Mumbai, Lucknow, Greater Noida, and Delhi for hurting the religious sentiments of the people. Later, the director of the series Ali Abbas Zaffar released a statement apologizing to everyone for the series. In the statement, he said that they didn’t intend to hurt anyone’s sentiments and will be making changes to the web series.
OTT Demands Rise During Lockdown
During the lockdown across the world because of the coronavirus pandemic, the demand for OTT platforms found new heights. Since everybody stayed at home and the multiplexes and cinemas were closed for most of the year, OTT platforms became quite popular amongst the people.
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The movies and series shown on OTT platforms have not exactly been regulated but are marked as per the age for the users to make an informed choice. Other international players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video also released many of the series and movies throughout last year and continue to do so along with some of the Indian OTT platforms like Hotstar, Zee5, MX Player, etc.
Consumer Interaction With OTT Platforms
In the past few months, as per the studies, there have been many consumer discussions around the OTT platforms and their pros and cons. The pros include the convenience to watch content and the time of the consumer’s choice. However, some of the cons are related to regulating the content for religious sentiments and “vulgarity” in the content being shown.
Later last year, the Government of India decided to bring OTT video streaming platforms under the regulation of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. So far seventeen OTT platforms have fallen under the ambit of GOI. This includes Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar, Jio Cinema, Eros Now, Alt Balaji, Netflix, Discover Plus, Aha, MX Player, Viacom (Voot), Arre, Hungama, Lionsgate Play, Shemaroo, HoiChoi, and SonyLiv.
