The Indian streaming landscape is witnessing a significant shift, with weekly viewership for original web series and films experiencing a sharp decline. Industry experts point to a risk-averse strategy by Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms, which are increasingly betting on established franchises at the expense of fresh narratives, leading to audience saturation.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Data from media consulting firm Ormax reveals a stark contrast. In recent months, most fiction OTT originals report weekly viewership in the 1-2 million range, with very few breaking out. This is a far cry from just a year ago, when it was common for multiple shows to consistently garner over 4 million viewers per week.
For instance, in the second week of December 2025, shows like Aukaat Ke Baahar and Bhay - The Gaurav Tiwari Mystery managed 2 million and 1.1 million viewers respectively. Only the third season of The Family Man crossed the 3 million mark. In contrast, December 2024 saw titles like Mismatched and Agni easily achieving viewership between 3 and 4 million.
Why Are Platforms Playing It Safe?
The root cause is a strategic pivot towards profitability in a cut-throat market. Over the past two years, streaming services have slashed marketing and production budgets by up to 40%, rationalized content costs, and greenlit far fewer new projects. This has made expensive, unproven productions a harder sell.
"The OTT landscape has become a crowded marketplace, and that abundance itself is a problem. With more than 60 services offering thousands of titles, viewers are hit by choice fatigue and scroll endlessly," said Rajat Agrawal, COO of Ultra Media & Entertainment Group. He added that Hindi-language series often rely on formulaic storytelling, making plots predictable.
This reliance on known franchises like Panchayat, Mirzapur, and Delhi Crime is showing diminishing returns. For example, the viewership for Panchayat shrunk by over 15% from 28.2 million for Season 3 (2024) to 23.8 million for Season 4 (2025).
Broader Market Shifts and Viewer Fatigue
The challenges for mainstream Hindi OTT content are multifaceted. The explosive growth of regional content is pulling audiences away from Hindi-dominated catalogues. Furthermore, poor recommendation engines and a lack of nuanced language filters make discovering new shows difficult.
"Additionally, subscription costs are rising, so consumers are becoming more selective, and many are drifting toward international hits, Korean dramas, and Turkish soaps drawn by their fresh narratives," Agrawal pointed out.
OTT platforms are also no longer the sole destination for digital entertainment. Short-form video on YouTube, Instagram Reels, the booming gaming sector, and live sports events are aggressively competing for users' screen time and attention.
"For many viewers, it is not that OTT has become bad; they just have more options that are quicker, lighter, or more social. There is also a bit of fatigue with dark, heavy Hindi shows. People want warmth, humour, and shorter formats, but the supply has not kept up," explained Charu Malhotra, co-founder of Primus Partners.
Industry voices like Namit Sharma, CEO of Arre Studios, note that the market has matured. "The flywheel has definitely slowed down... a lot more ideas need to be given chances and that needs a reset in the thought process because one is seeing more of the same right now," he stated. The path forward requires platforms to balance safe bets with genuine creative risks to re-engage a discerning and distracted audience.
