Just a few days ago we wrote a news report on the lack of reliability of the numbers put out by the OTT platforms on the viewing hours generated by a film or series. As if on cue, the Ormax Media has collated the viewership of Hindi films and web series (all OTT originals) across platforms based on research among the audience across in India.
The list (opens in new tab), which took into account the offerings in the first six months of 2022 (Jan-Jun) has thrown up some interesting results. Among the Hindi films released directly on OTT platforms this year, Yami Gautam starrer A Thursday on Disney Plus Hotstar emerged on the top with 25.5 million viewers. The controversial relationship drama featuring Deepika Padukone, Gehraiyaan on Amazon Prime Video was at second spot with 22.3 million viewers. The relatively unsung cricket movie Kaun Pravin Tambe? on Disney Plus Hotstar had 20.2 million viewers and was at the third place.
Jalsa on Amazon Prime Video with 13.9 million, Sharmaji Namkeen on Amazon Prime Video with 12.7 million, Dasvi on Netflix with 10.4 million, Forensic on Zee5 with 8.6 million, Thar on Netflix with 7.8 million, Love Hostel on Zee5 with 7.5 million and Looop Lapeta on Netflix with 5.7 million made up the remaining spots in the top-10 list for Hindi films.
6 of Disney Plus Hotstar series in top-10: Ajay Devgn’s Rudra, the winner
Among the Hindi web series, Ajay Devgn’s thriller Rudra The Edge Of Darkness on Disney Plus Hotstar emerged as the most-watched one with an estimated viewership of 35.2 millions. Aashram Season 3 on MX player with 34.3 million viewers was second. Panchayat Season 2 on Amazon Prime Video had 29.6 million viewers and was placed third in the list.
The Great Indian Murder on Disney Plus Hotstar with 23 million, Lock Upp on Disney Plus Hotstar with 21.2 million, Human on Disney Plus Hotstar with 19.6 million, Bhaukaal Season 2 on MX Player with 16.6 million, Masoom on Disney Plus Hotstar with 16.4 million, Escaype Live on Disney Plus Hotstar with 16.1 million and Campus Diaries on MX Player with 15.5 million comprised the top-10 in that order.
Six of the Disney Plus Hotstar series were in the top-10 most watched list. MX Player had 3 entries, while Amazon Prime Video had one. Netflix has some introspection to do as none of its series made it to the top-10 most-watched list.
Suzhal – The Vortex among the big hits
Ormax said it would also start coming up with the numbers for non-Hindi content too in the future. It also chose make a mention of Suzhal – The Vortex, the Tamil web series on Amazon Prime Video and the Bengali web series 9 Hours on Disney Plus Hostar as having enjoyed great numbers.
Ormax has also created a list of most buzzing and most liked web series and movies for the same period. Panchayat created the most buzz and was also most liked. The buzz-worthy list also includes Rocket Boys, Human, The Fame Game and Gullak Season 3.
Among the Hindi films, the top buzzing ones were: Gehraiyaan, A Thursday, Dasvi, Jalsa and Sharmaji Namkeen. In terms of content, it was: A Thursday, Kaun Pravin Tambe?, Forensic, Thar and Dasvi.
The top-5 most watched international shows were: Moon Knight (23.4 million), Ms Marvel (16.7 million), Stranger Things Season 4 (15.8 million), The Boys Season 3 (9.6 million) and All Of Us Are Dead (7.8 million).
The research methodology
Giving a peek into its research, Ormax said it was conducted among audience across India at a weekly level, projected to the OTT universe in India. It did not use any secondary data, including the ones put out by platforms in the public domain.
It said that the viewership estimates represented the number of people who watched the show (at least one full episode) or film (at least 30 mins). “It does not represent the number of accounts used for watching the show/ film, e.g., three members of a family, or two friends, watching on the same account are considered as unique audience,” it said. Overseas viewership was not taken into consideration, and even if an audience member watched episodes spread over multiple weeks, they were still counted only once.