The film industry signed its death certificate when it embraced the devil that is OTT streaming.
Turns out, the total gross box-office collection for the Indian film industry in 2024 is ₹10,754 Cr. This is when it was ₹13,161 Cr in 2023. That's an 18.2% fall in a single year. The dip becomes even more stark when we only talk about Hindi films. They grossed ₹4,534 Cr in 2024, when they earned ₹6,045 in 2023. Basically shrinking 25% in a just a single year. It's massive.
And this dip is consistent. Cinemas are nosediving into oblivion and there's no saving grace. Films aren't making money anymore because theatres aren't drawing crowds. Production houses are getting bought in distress sales, and the entire film economy is shaking. But whenever this conversation comes up, someone often springs up with the usual, "Arre, but Pushpa grossed ₹1,100 Cro-!".
Fouck Pushpa! It doesn't matter what a few outliers gross once in a few years, the trend is clear - Films are going the music way.
But what happened to Music?
Music sales across the world were at $23.7 Bil in 1999, and then came Napster. Since then, the entire music industry has shifted to streaming. But what are the revenues, still?
In 2023, the global music industry saw "record breaking" sales of $28 Bil. While about 14% of this still came from CDs & Vinyl, what's important is that $23.7 Bil in 1999 translates to roughly $45 Bil in today's terms (inflation). So basically, even after 18 years of Spotify, et al, the music industry hasn't been able to even match what it was making in 1999 (26 years ago). Not even close. Forget about growing the pie.
Streaming killed the music revenues for all practical purposes. And forever.
Now music sales are history. And if the film industry doesn't preserve the box office, ticket sales will also become history. And with that, the film industry will shrink how the music industry shrunk. And it'll never come back.
But why? Because streaming doesn't pay. And it can't pay. Just how it's completely failed to pay the musicians even a fraction of what they would have made with physical sales, it can't pay the filmmakers what they made (or still make) in theatres as well. It's because streaming is essentially an "efficient" way of consuming art. But what's "efficient" for the consumer is bad for the maker. Tickets aren't efficient, but they are good for the biz. One ticket per person. And with each ticket, I get a cut. It's beautiful.
So what can the producers do? Most conversations right now are around "reducing costs". But that won't grow the pie. Or even preserve it as it is.
Amongst many things, the film industry needs to go back to the 90 (or even 120) day window between theatrical and OTT releases. OTTs will resist, but it's necessary. People skip the theatres because they know the films will be on OTTs "soon". That needs to stop. Got to sell the tickets. They're gold.
Then of course, there's a need for more incentive to the writers and less to the actors. Indian film industry pays the actors too much, while paying writers basically nothing. No wonder we make the worst films, all things considered. This needs to change. Writers make the source material, and deserve their place in the sun. If not, it's going to be dark for everyone.
There are many other things which the industry will have to initiate in the instinct of self preservation. But that's perhaps for another article...
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