In 2021, over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms saw films in four south Indian languages, including their dubbed versions, gain big audiences and accounting for as much as 10% of overall viewing minutes.
West and north Indian states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi NCR (National Capital Region) accounted for 75% of viewership for dubbed films, said platform executives.
Malayalam film Minnal Murali was one of the top ten non-English films on Netflix for the last week of December, with 5.9 million viewing hours while Jai Bhim, Sarpatta Parambarai and Soorarai Pottru are among Amazon Prime Video’s biggest hits. After its release in theatres, period drama RRR will be dubbed in Spanish, Portuguese and Korean for Netflix.
Netflix has also seen its Tamil anthology Navarasa feature in the Top 10 in 10 countries including India, Malaysia, Sri Lanka. In its first week on Netflix, more than 40% of the viewers for the film were from outside India.
In the last one year, films like Nayattu (Malayalam), Andhaghaaram (Tamil), Pitta Kathalu (Telugu), Paava Kadhaigal (Tamil), Cinema Bandi (Telugu) and Mandela (Tamil) have all featured in the Top 10 in India.
In an earlier interview with Mint, Manish Menghani, head of content licensing, Prime Video India had said for movies in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, 50% of the audiences come from outside their respective home states. Globally, these movies are being watched in over 170 countries, with international viewers already accounting for over 20% of total audiences of these local language films.
Regional films, especially from southern languages are attracting viewership around the world. This is due to the fact that each language from south India offers unique films which tend to highlight their traditions, culture, locations, and so on
