In these pandemic-hit times, catching up on stand up shows in real-time seem difficult, given that their numbers have come down.
But treat this shortage like a temporary blip, as over the top (OTT) platforms have moved in, planning several stand-up specials for their audience this year.
Creating some of these stand-up specials is OML, an artist-first media and entertainment company, which had introduced a stand-up reality show, Comicstaan, to the digital audience in Hindi, English, and regional language Tamil.
OML will start shooting for the third season of Comicstaan from next month.
The company, which has 83 artistes on its roster including comics like Zakir Khan and Biswa Kalyan Rath, among others, is one of the biggest players in terms of content creation for OTTs, especially in the comedy space.
More comedy for consumers
"We are ready with around 15 stand-up specials. By March and April, we will commission more specials. So, this year you can expect 20-25 (stand-up) specials," Dhruv Sheth, COO, OML Entertainment, told Moneycontrol.
Separately, OML will launch five to six non-fiction, and two fiction shows this year as well.
The company currently is working on the second season of One Mic Stand, a presentation, which in its first season got celebrities like actress Richa Chadda, Taapsee Pannu and politician Shashi Tharoor to try their hand at stand-up comedy. For the new season, Tharoor, singer, songwriter and composer Vishal Dadlani and comedian Bhuvan Bam will make a comeback.
The first season of One Mic Stand is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Since OML started creating digital content for OTTs, the company has delivered around 45 stand-up shows for platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix.
Overall, the company plans to launch a mix of at least 30 stand-ups, and fiction and non-fiction shows in 2021; by the time the year ends, it proposes to work on many more.
And this is OML's biggest content-up line-up for OTTs in any year so far.
OTTs asking for more content
Sheth believes OTTs are looking for more original content. "See, some shows are to acquire more subscribers and others are to keep their existing subscribers engaged - comedy falls into the latter category."
He added that existing players like SonyLiv and Disney+Hotstar are now becoming more serious towards adding original content on their platforms.
OML will be coming up with shows made for platforms like ZEE5, Disney+Hotstar and MX Player, among others.
The world’s top consultants and management companies concur. A recently released Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report noted that original content will be the key differentiator for OTTs, as competition is intensifying.
Another report pointed out that investments in India originals will grow six-fold during the period between 2021-25. According to the forecast by London-based technology research and consulting firm, Omdia, investments in originals will be over Rs 30,000 crore during 2021-25 and 45 percent of that amount will be spent by OTT players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video.
Challenges due to COVID-19
While shooting for both fiction and non-fiction shows have resumed, things have not been easy, admits Sheth.
"Last year, all our shows were postponed. We were in the middle of shooting the second season of a show called Chacha Vidhayak Hain Humare (starring comic Zakir Khan) for Amazon (Prime Video) but that was halted because of COVID-19."
He said that work on many of their shows resumed only in December last year.Plus, there have been troubles in getting venues too as auditoriums could reopen only recently, said Sheth. He pointed out that auditoriums are the main venue for stand-up specials. However, venue has not been a big challenge considering OML usually shoots its shows in studios, which reopened in October last year.
So, with all the safety protocols in place, has the time for producing content gone up?
Sheth said that it has slowed down the process, but they still managed to finish a show, which they were shooting recently, in time.
Throwing light on the average time needed for shooting shows, Sheth said that a studio-based show like Comicstaan or One Mic Stand is shot in one day. "But the preparation time for such exhibitions is around three to four months, as we have one day to shoot," he said.
As for fiction shows, he estimated that for 500 minutes of content, it could take around 100 days to shoot.
Exciting times in OTT space
Talking about making content for OTTs, Sheth said that they started sometime around 2015-2016 with a show called On Air with AIB (an English comedy serial).
"While the show was available both on television and Hotstar (now Disney+Hotstar), the show did better numbers on digital than TV because we are more relevant on digital. We wanted to first convert the digital audience to a paying audience, so we made premium shows on the digital platform and that's how we started."
The company has produced around 200 hours of content between OTTs and YouTube in the last four to five years.
Continuing OML's journey while making content for digital platforms, Sheth said that this is the most exciting time to be working in the OTT space. He sure looks excited.