In order to reach millions of TV households back when satellite television first became available in India, broadcasters had to work with regional cable operators and pay them a substantial carriage fee. Over-the-top (OTT) content services have become the centre of attention in recent years. Since distribution is still important for all content creators, the essence of the game hasn't changed, but the players have.

OTT services began to gain popularity in India in 2018 and have since seen an increase in use. In India, the OTT companies' rise was further driven by the Covid-19-related lockdowns as users switched to streaming services for entertainment. Following the pandemic, OTT video streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Voot, SonyLIV, and others immediately gained popularity as these players looked for new growth opportunities to boost profits.

One of the global markets with the strongest growth rates for OTT content is India. The pandemic-related shutdown of theatres and movie theatres for more than a year has accelerated the development of video OTT services in India.

The demand for technology solution providers for these OTTs is increasing at a rate that keeps up with this quickly expanding sector. Delivery of OTT video is facilitated by the usage of contemporary technology. Video files for streaming are kept on servers connected to networks with variable bandwidth. Pre-recorded content is stored and distributed online via content delivery networks (CDNs). Any viewer who watches a video through the app sends a request to the local CDN to obtain the manifest file for that video chunk as well as a request to the applicable DRM (Digital Rights Management) server to obtain the media key to decrypt video chunks.

In this edition, we bring together, not the OTT providers, but the OTT solution providers who's existence is just as important as your weekends with Netflix.