Prabhas’ Salaar is the most-watched movie on Indian OTT, Korean content outperforms homegrown titles on Netflix

JioHotstar dominated streaming charts in the month of March, according to new data shared by Nielsen. The most-watched film in India during this time was the Prabhas-starrer Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire, which made over Rs 700 crore in its box office run. Directed by Prashanth Neel, Salaar also featured Prithviraj Sukumaran, and is set to get a sequel. According to the report, shared by Variety, JioHotstar occupied seven of the top 10 spots on the charts. Dragon, on Netflix, also found a spot on the list, which was compiled after measuring the mobile phone viewing patterns of people in the 18-45 demographic in urban areas with populations exceeding 1 lakh.

The most-watched title as far as series are concerned was MX Player’s Aashram, followed by JioHotstar’s Thukra Ke Mera Pyaar. Surprisingly, the Korean series When Life Gives You Tangerines took the third spot, meaning that it outperformed every Indian title on Netflix in March. The fourth spot was claimed by the evergreen favourite Stranger Things, which also outperformed every Indian title. Game of Thrones also found a spot, while MTV Roadies led the pack in the non-original series category.

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The list is based on data compiled from metro, mini-metro, Tier 1, and Tier 2 cities, using metrics that measure time spent and engagement. India has the world’s second-largest internet users, which is why it’s high on the priority lists of international streamers. Netflix hasn’t quite cracked the market yet, despite having had a presence in India since 2018. Thanks to the Indian Premier League, JioHotstar’s subscriber rate reportedly grew to within touching distance of Netflix – 280 million, as compared to Netflix’s 300 million-plus.

Discussing the viewing habits of Indian audiences in an interview with Indian Express, Monika Shergill, vice president – content, Netflix India, said, “You have to tell them in a way that wows people — surprises or delights them. It should be worth their time. Today, sitting anywhere in the world they can experience any kind of content, in any language. Their benchmark for what’s good storytelling has gone up. We have some catching up to do.”