Planet Marathi OTT becomes second video sharing platform to launch pay-per-view feature in India, but the platform will be offering only Marathi films
The recently launched Planet Marathi over the top (OTT) platform has added a new feature in the transactional video on-demand space.
The platform has announced the launch of Ticket Window, a select pay-per-view format for watching Marathi movies online.
The new feature on the OTT platform will be called Planet Marathi Digital Theatre, which will be available to the audience in the first week of September.
“We have an array of films as a lot of producers are ready to launch their films digitally on our platform," said Aditya Oke, COO, Planet Marathi.
The pricing of the Marathi movies that will be available for pay-per-view will depend on the Planet Marathi rating of films.
"These ratings will suggest a price range from Rs 49 to Rs 299 to producers. Finally, it will be producers' call to finalise the ticket price. We are also introducing the RR system which is 'Rate as per Rating'," said Planet Marathi’s CMD Akshay Bardapurkar.
The Planet Marathi ratings will depend on production value, star cast, technical aspects, aesthetics, overall effect, Oke pointed out.
Talking about the idea behind launching pay-per-view for Marathi films, Bardapurkar said, "The Maharashtra film body recently announced in a press release appealing producers to release/sell their films digitally due to the COVID-19 impact. Producers are facing huge losses and it was only natural that producers will try to stay afloat with the help of OTTs in these trying times.”
While pay-per-view is still at its nascent stage in India, Planet Marathi is not the only video streaming platform offering this service.
Recently, ShemarooMe launched ShemarooMe Box Office, where viewers can purchase films for three days for Rs 80-100. So far, the platform has launched two films and the third venture has been added on August 14.
In a chat with Moneycontrol, Hiren Gada, CEO, Shemaroo Entertainment, said while the numbers are small for pay-per-view, the fact that the model is picking up is interesting.
Internationally, pay-per-view is picking up more pace as theatres across the globe are either shut or playing old content and producers do not want to release new films until majority of the theatres reopen.
Disney's Mulan will release simultaneously on Disney+ and in theatres on September 4. On Disney+, the movie will be available for $30. The OTT release was a move taken due to the coronavirus situation.