The ChanaJor Founder explains how restraint in spending, sharper audience relevance, and rooted Hindi storytelling shaped platform strategies across the industry
After a period of rapid expansion and experimentation, the Indian OTT industry in 2025 began to slow down and reassess its long term direction. Platforms across the ecosystem shifted focus toward sustainability, carefully examining costs, audience retention, and content performance in an increasingly competitive environment.
Sharing his perspective on the year, Pratap Jain, Founder and CEO of ChanaJor, said the industry moved away from scale driven ambition toward sharper business thinking. “2025 emerged as a year of course correction for the Indian OTT industry. The focus moved away from aggressive expansion towards building sustainable businesses, with platforms becoming far more mindful of costs, audience retention, and content performance.”
Jain noted that the shift signalled a more mature phase for the sector. Instead of competing on volume, platforms began prioritising clear positioning and loyal viewership. “Rather than chasing scale blindly, the industry began valuing clear positioning and loyal viewership, signalling a shift where discipline mattered more than hype,” he said, adding that conversations increasingly centred on understanding audiences rather than launching the highest number of shows.
This change in outlook also influenced ChanaJor’s internal decisions throughout the year. From both business and content perspectives, the platform focused on making deliberate choices. “For us, 2025 was about investing smarter in content. Instead of increasing volume, we focused on stories that genuinely connect with our Hindi speaking audience,” Jain said. He added that content performance guided distribution and monetisation decisions, with greater emphasis on what viewers were actually completing.
Language focus remained central to ChanaJor’s strategy. Jain said the platform’s Hindi only positioning became a key advantage in 2025, particularly in reaching audiences beyond metro markets. “Hindi content allowed us to reach audiences across Tier 2, Tier 3, and emerging markets where relatability matters more than scale,” he said, noting that depth within Hindi storytelling continues to be the platform’s long term priority.
Marketing approaches across the OTT space also became more efficiency led during the year. Jain observed that spends were largely performance driven, centred on digital discovery, platform integrations, and content led promotion. Looking ahead, he expects a gradual shift toward stronger brand building alongside performance discipline as platforms mature and trust and recall gain importance.
As the industry enters 2026, Jain said clearer identity driven communication will be a priority for ChanaJor. Rather than promoting every release aggressively, the focus will be on strengthening what the platform represents. He added that consistency in messaging will matter more than frequency.
Outlining trends likely to define the coming year, Jain pointed to increased emphasis on viewer retention and engagement, the rise of short and micro format storytelling, and platforms building strong cultural and language identities. According to him, OTT platforms that remain focused, understand their audiences, and tell honest stories will be best positioned for sustained growth in 2026.
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