OTT is the new normal. TV Apps are the new pandemic

Do you remember the days when popcorn and going to the movies was the best plan? Well seems like this plan has gotten cheaper with the OTT (Over-the-top) platform.

OTT is not only confined to the one particular screen watch, with the present technology it has been made possible to either stream it from mobiles, tabs, laptops, or TVs. I am confined to only Smart TV in my topic here.

The Era of TV is back again! OTTs are the new normal!

If you think, it is not, then I might be trying to convince you to come to the same conclusion as me. Tell me how many days have you gone out to watch a movie in these two years of the Pandemic? Nil or once or twice maybe? Also, how many days have you checked for new content on any OTT apps on a Friday night? Isn´t this one of the very basic things that we do across the world these days?

Earlier, loafing around the city and then a movie in the theatres were the most common kind of family outings, at least in the working middle-class Indian families. Nevertheless, it is almost the same with the college couples and younger crowds too.

I have so many memories of hanging out and watching a movie, that I have no count on the number of movies I have watched in the theatres, until the corona pandemic.

Today, I give thumbs up to the OTT over the others, not because of the pandemic, but because at a touch of a fingertip, I can watch the best content each day with friends and family while just staying in my pijamas laying on a cozy couch with my homemade popcorn.

Besides, having the opportunity of being exposed to global content changes the perception of how we imagine people around the world live and shows us their real lifestyle, culture, and way of narrating stories. It’s like a mini Digital world book at minimal monthly subscriptions. Pay less, watch more, and in turn learn more too.

OTT has become a normal integral part of most working-class families. As of now, statistics have shown that there is an ongoing spike in the use of OTTs in the coming years, even after the pandemic dies.

People getting back to theatres will never be the same as before. Reasons are many, for instance, some older people who have mobility issues can enjoy the OTT with their families without the hustle of traveling.

Some think that it would be less harmful to the environment by avoiding the commute and instead, watching the same content from home while getting the same amount of entertainment. Unlikely, some like me would be more comfortable with the pijamas and my cozy couch.

With a good smart TV, we can connect most apps that we use on our phones each day. Many TV apps can be easily downloaded from the TV App Store and can be used similarly to the way it is done on mobile/laptops. in fact, many youths and elder generations prefer to have smart TVs.

They also use them more than mobile phones. This is a good development, since, watching something on a bigger screen from a far-off distance is better than watching on the small screens of their phones. Smart TVs have good sound systems these days and they give you a greater feel like in the theatres.

TV apps are in competition with great players like Netflix, HBO, Prime, Disney+, etc, coming to the Scandinavian countries it is the Strim, RiksTV, TV2, NRK, and CMore, while coming to Asia it is the Voot, HotStar, YuppTV and so on…

These are some of the big competing markets, each of them with great and unique content. This is creating the need for more creation of content all over the world to be streamed on these OTT platforms. The path to creativity has been opened as the OTT becomes the new pandemic.

However, there is a difference in how the same app performs on different platforms. For instance, the HBO app is to be implemented for the Android TV, Apple TV, Samsung TV, LG TV, etc. with each having a different Operating system just like the mobile phones and laptops.

OTT for a layman would be an app that just runs on smart devices, but in reality, behaviours are so different for each gadget based on their operating systems. I incur that there are so many minds and hands working each day to make the OTT platform stream the stories told by people from across the world.

After the mobile phone took over our Linear TVs people said the TV era is gone for a toss. Here comes another era where I say that TVs are back again with a boom and great features to operate most of the apps that could be operated on the mobile phones with just a remote controller and in a much easier way than a mobile phone