Catch all the drama, online

Who needs television anymore? Raveena Joseph writes about the growing popularity of Indian Web series that are slowly replacing formulaic soaps

MP

Tired of mothers-in-law who plot and daughters-in-law who dote? Turn off your television sets. In fact, throw them out. Instead, tune into Web series which give you a breather from contrived saas-bahu weepathons on cable networks. 

Edgy and fresh, Web series, which have made their mark in India, break free from staid television formats — there are no time frames to follow, no censorship issues, and women don’t turn into snakes. “Close to 70 per cent of the Indian population is young, and a bulk of them is online. So, the Web is not just a distribution platform to put up existing material; you need fresh content to stay relevant and survive,” says Ashish Patil, head of Y-Films, the youth division of Yash Raj Films. He says the channel’s subscriber base was dormant at 18,000 subscribers, who “had forgotten to unsubscribe”. But, after Bang Baaja Baaraat and Man’s World , they have close to 2,50,000 subscribers.

For content creators in the online space, Web series are a way to keep an audience engaged and come back for more. Culture Machine, the digital entertainment company, which owns 350 channels, including Put Chutney, Being Indian and Blush, recently started incubating long-form content. Sameer Pitalwalla, CEO and Co-founder, says, “We noticed longer session times among a lot of our consumers. So, we wondered, can we get them to engage with longer story arcs?” Born out of that thought is Blush’s 

Alisha  and Stray Factory’s upcoming horror series, 

Hush , the first of its kind from South India. 

“The South is a more complex market — there are different narratives, creatives, languages and advertisers to work with,” explains Sameer. New platforms are constantly mushrooming, while content creators grapple with capturing the Hindi-speaking market. But, there are a few players exploring the medium in the South too, such as Chennai’s Stray Factory.

While a series, technically, can be shot on a camera phone with zero production cost, that isn’t what successful Web series are made of. “We usually celebrate the success stories. But, we shouldn’t forget that for every video that goes viral, there are hundred more that go unwatched,” says Arunabh Kumar, CEO and Founder, The Viral Fever (TVF), which is all set to roll out Season two of the popular web series,  Permanent Roommates .

Production quality, casting and content are major factors that determine how a series is received. And it’s not enough to make one good video, but to keep producing good content to keep the viewer hooked; the Internet is full of options.  “India is a country of lazy, inactive and ungrateful audiences. They will waste Rs. 900 on a bad Bollywood film in the theatre, but if you give them something good for free, they won’t even hit the subscribe button,” says Arunab. He explains that while TVF’s subscriber base now stands close to 1.4 million, many more stop with watching the videos. In such a situation, getting them to pay for subscriptions and devising a working revenue model is going to be an uphill task. “This is not very encouraging for the online content-creating industry,” he adds.

Yet, the future of these series looks promising. Y-Films says producers from abroad are interested in doing a television remake of  Man’s World . Decidedly, sequels for these series can be made not just for the Web, but also for TV and film. YouTube stars are created every day — actors such as Angira Dhar of Bang Baaja Baaraat , and Naveen Kasturia, known for his performance in  Pitchers , are gaining popularity.

With this medium, there is enough space for everyone’s content and much scope for innovation. And, with the world moving Web-wards, this is a great time to be a content creator.