From Margins to Mainstream: India’s OTT boom turns regional to capture Bharat’s diverse viewers

India’s OTT landscape is undergoing a seismic shift as both global and domestic players aggressively expand their regional content libraries. Driven by the vast linguistic diversity and growing digital access in tier-two and tier-three cities, platforms are rethinking their content strategy, not as an add-on to Hindi-first programming, but as the frontline of growth and engagement.

"India isn’t one market—it’s a mosaic of languages and cultures," notes Avinash Mudaliar, CEO and co-founder, OTTplay. “Over 55% of content consumed on OTTplay today is non-Hindi,” the platform reveals, adding that it has seen a 2.5–3x year-on-year increase in regional content watch time, particularly in Tamil, Malayalam, Bengali, and Punjabi.

OTTplay, which curates content from over 32 OTT platforms, has seen a 50–60% surge in its regional library over the last year, now offering titles in over 12 Indian languages. This model has made it a go-to destination for multilingual households, where a single subscription unlocks content from niche regional-first platforms like Chaupal, aha, SunNXT, and Shemaroo Gujarati.

Says Mudaliar, “Our regional-first strategy has allowed us to tap into tier-two, three, and even tier-four towns. Over 70% of new subscribers come from non-metro cities, and over half of all viewing is in regional languages.”

ZEE5 is also leaning hard into the regional wave, with South India now contributing to 46% of its total 4K content consumption. “A major chunk of ZEE5 content viewership comes from non-Hindi languages,” confirms Raghavendra Hunsur, Chief Content Officer at ZEEL. He adds that the platform will launch more SVOD (subscription video on demand) content in regional markets than Hindi this year—an inflection point for the platform and the industry.

Regional originals such as Manorathangal (Malayalam), Aindham Vedham (Tamil), and Kaantaye Kaantaye (Bangla) have emerged as strong performers.

According to ZEE5, this multilingual approach has driven over 105 billion minutes of total watch time, with Drama alone clocking 40.2 billion minutes, making it the most consumed genre on the platform.

Even global giants have shifted gears.

Netflix has started dubbing nearly all major titles into multiple Indian languages and now regularly commissions originals in Tamil and Telugu. Amazon Prime Video, meanwhile, has seen “a large chunk of new sign-ups in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities now come from regional-first campaigns or titles,” says Dhruvin Shah, CEO of Gujarati platform JOJO.

“A well-performing Malayalam or Tamil title can now unlock as much traction as a big Bollywood release,” Shah observes. The intent has shifted, "regional isn’t something that comes in later—it’s part of the starting conversation.”

The Hyperlocal Edge

JOJO itself has leaned into regional investment, producing over 12 Gujarati originals in the last year while also launching dubbed content to bring diverse stories into the Gujarati ecosystem. The company is also investing in creator infrastructure with JOJO Studios to nurture regional talent.

Similarly, Shemaroo is doubling down on Gujarati content. “Gujarati consumers have immense pride in their language and culture,” says Saurabh Srivastava, COO – Digital Business. “When offered authentic, high-quality Gujarati content, they are extremely receptive.”

Rather than viewing global investments in regional content as a threat, most regional-first platforms see it as validation. “It’s a win-win situation,” says OTTplay. “More regional viewership creates demand for depth and discovery, which is where curated aggregator platforms like us come in.”

ZEE5 echoes this sentiment, calling the shift an “opportunity for regional platforms to innovate, deepen their niche, and possibly leverage the broader reach of larger players.” Collaborations, co-productions, and syndication models are increasingly on the table.

Although, with multiple OTTs now chasing the same regional pie, fragmentation has become a challenge. OTTplay addresses this by offering a unified interface with AI-powered discovery across languages and platforms. “Aggregation solves for fragmentation,” Mudaliar states. “Whether content comes from Aha, Chaupal, or Zee5, users don’t need to know or care.”

If current trends hold, 2025 could be the year regional content overtakes Hindi content in OTT consumption across India. With platforms racing to personalize, bundle, and localize, the next wave of OTT growth won’t just be regional, it’ll be hyperlocal.