Bollywood Hungama posted an interesting article about the current relationship between streaming platforms and Indian movie studios: “50% price drop, 1-year deals, and zero safety net – Bollywood’s digital dream turns nightmare as OTT platforms tighten screws and leave producers bleeding.”

With diminished theatrical exhibition opportunities from 2020-2022, producers found willing buyers for their films in streaming services, who took the opportunity to expand their subscriber base with exclusive content. In the years since theaters fully reopened, streamers determined that they aren’t getting the same bang for their buck when buying film rights, leading them to reexamine how they do business. Producers have been forced to adjust their expectations from what quickly became a key source of revenue.

Here are some key takeaways from the article:

• Prices streamers are paying for film rights are sometimes half of what they paid even as recently last year.
• The duration of streaming deals is shorter — as little as one year, as opposed to three- or five-year licensing deals that were the norm.
• Streamers insist on theatrical releases first, offloading promotional costs onto studios.
• Instead of paying for rights before a film’s theatrical release, streamers demand accurate box office collections figures to determine what a movie is worth. Those numbers may be different from what studios release publicly.
• Studios that are have a full slate of movies in production — Excel, Dharma, Maddock, etc. — have an easier time securing streaming deals than smaller studios and individual producers.
• For straight-to-OTT releases, the streamers want to be part of the production from the very beginning, instead of paying for a film that’s already finished.

Some recent related news stories seem to bear this info out. Mid-day reports that Ranbir Kapoor is thinking of restarting RK Studios, but not until he has multiple projects lined up. A plausible sounding rumor on the Bolly Blinds N Gossip subreddit suggests that Dharma is well-positioned with the streamers because the series Dharma makes are in high demand, regardless of how well their films performance at the box office.

So what does this mean for movie fans? First, if there’s a smaller budget movie with lesser-known actors that you really want to see, prioritize seeing it in the theater, if possible. There’s no guarantee any streaming service will pick it up.

Second, if that smaller movie does make it onto a streaming service, you won’t have forever to watch it. It might only be available for as little as a year, with no guarantee it will be renewed or find a streaming home elsewhere.

The great promise of streaming video in its early days was that every movie would be available to watch whenever we wanted (legally). That’s clearly proven to not be the case. With fewer movies being released on physical media, it almost feels like the opportunity to watch films is shrinking rather than expanding.