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Two By Two Fri, 07 Mar 25 |
An abridged, narrative version of the latest episode of Two by Two, The Ken’s premium weekly business podcast. |
Who’ll become new television? Youtube or streaming companies?. Youtube wants to become the new television. But streaming companies are in no mood to just sit and watch
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“…a soup of users and monetisation models…”
“…the audition theatre of the world…”
“Depending on how you look at it, Youtube is many things.”
Well, one way to look at it is how Kevin Allocca, Global Director of Culture and Trends at Youtube (even he jokes that it’s a made-up title) put it in a recent interview: Youtube is a platform, not a streaming service.
And it’s not just a platform. It’s a social-media platform. A mix that puts it in a place where culture is shaped in real-time.
As Youtube has grown, so has its ambition to be more than a free mobile streaming service. It’s forayed into a space that has played a huge part in shaping global culture for over half a century—television. Going from mobile phone screens to the centrepiece of everyone’s living room is a huge leap. But Youtube has kind of done it, at least in the US.
That television screen in the living room is hot property, though. And Youtube has rivals.
Streaming companies—Netflix, Prime Video, Jiohotstar, et al—are not sitting still. From online watch parties to failed attempts at vertical, short-form television shows to even live TV streams, they seem to be taking leaves out of Youtube’s playbook in their own limited ways.
Youtube wants to become the ‘new television’. Streaming companies want the same thing.
In this week’s episode of Two by Two, hosts Praveen Gopal Krishnan and Rohin Dharmakumar sit down with our guests to break down each side’s chances of success.
Swati Mohan is former head of marketing, Netflix India, and an independent advisor to several consumer-tech companies. And Vanita Kohli-Khandekar is an India-based media specialist and a contributing editor for Business Standard who has written about media and the business of media for over two decades.
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It’s an eyeball game
Sports, for instance, has long been one of the biggest growth drivers for media companies in India. It is one of those few things that the Indian consumer is more than willing to pay for.
Vanita: In India, we are at 125 million subs for streaming. I would take a multiple of two or three (people watching) at most, so we’re taking 375 million people.
TV reaches 900 million people even today.
Most markets are 50-50 Pay Television and Subscription.
In India, I think (streaming companies) have exhausted the top end of the pyramid. And at the middle and bottom layers, if you want to have reach, you have to do all the things that TV did.
Netflix is launching WWE this April. We know for a fact that many of the tech-media majors bid for IPL, and they walked out because the prices were too high. They are doing it because they want eyeballs.
You think they make money on IPL. Nobody made money on IPL. It is an eyeball game.
Well, what if Youtube were to enter the sports segment in India? That would definitely make it look more like television. In fact, Youtube has already done similar things in the US, like its deal with the National Football League for certain Sunday shows.
Where next?
The general assumption is that Indians don’t like to pay for much, but Vanita believes that overlooks just how big the market really is. On that front, Youtube is already ahead of the curve.
Vanita: Expansion is happening at the middle and the lower tier. DD Free Dish—I don’t know how many of you are even aware of it—is a booming state-owned television platform.
All those channels—your Dangals, Goldmines—they’ve all become Rs 500–600 crore. And it’s free TV.
The other growth is happening in FAST (Free ad-supported streaming television) on your connected TV.
[…]
This is like the new form of cable TV—a cable operator giving you some movie… or shows… or even dubbed content.
[…]
Youtube consumption on TV is increasing because of connected TV. Youtube is a dada (boss) in that market. It fights with DD Free Dish. There’s no other competitor to Youtube in that market.
And that’s something that also explains why streaming companies want to push further into these spaces.
These excerpts, of course, are a very small part of a lively one-and-a-half-hour conversation. Do catch the full episode on our app and share your thoughts with us by writing to [email protected] or leaving a comment on our website.
See you next week!
Regards,
Hari Krishna
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Hari works as a producer and researcher on Two by Two and First Principles. He’s from a “little village in Kerala where nothing much happens”, enjoys reading books (although he loves buying them even more), and appreciates films—be it on Netflix or Criterion.
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