Opinion: OTT Is More Costlier Than Going To Cinema Hall?

One of the most common perceptions at the moment is that going to the movie hall for a family of four is very expensive, and hence, people are turning towards OTT platforms. But then, if you have to calculate all the expenses related to watching movies on streaming sites, that’s more costly than going to cinemas, says the young generation.

If we look at the fee of OTT platforms, JioHotstar costs ₹2199, Amazon Prime is around ₹2198 without ads, NETFLIX costs you ₹5988 for a 1080p Plan. Add to that 100mpbs wifi charges, which cost you nearly 8-12K per year, and if it is mobile, it's likely to cost you ₹3600 per year. In all likelihood, the cost of owning a couple of OTT subscriptions along with internet, and without electricity charges, is around ₹15-20K easily. If you opt for only FullHD and 4K version subscriptions, then the OTT fee goes up, and the dependent costs also go high.

Coming to theatre viewing, If a family of four goes to theatres, going to 10-15 films in a year, it costs the same amount of money if you plan a few movies in multiplexes and the rest in single screens, without spending extra on the food. Though extra content could be seen on the OTTs with that price, it looks like watching premium-OTT versions will cost you more than theatre visits, if we take the annual numbers.

As the cost of movie-watching and OTT viewing is the same, will movie-lovers come to theatres for an extra Dolby Sound, large-screen experience? Or will they stick to only OTTs, such that they could consume more content than the number of films in theatres?