A few days ago we wrote a report on the unreliability of the numbers released by OTT platforms on the hours of viewing generated by a film or series. As if on cue, Ormax Media collected viewership for Hindi films and web series (all OTT originals) on platforms based on surveys among audiences in India.
The list (opens in new tab), which took into account offers in the first six months of 2022 (Jan-Jun) showed some interesting results. Among the Hindi films released directly on OTT platforms this year, Yami Gautam starring a thursday on Disney Plus Hotstar emerged at the top with 25.5 million viewers. The controversial relationship drama with Deepika Padukone, Gehraiyaan on Amazon Prime Video it ranked second with 22.3 million viewers. The relatively unknown cricket film Kaun Pravin Also? on Disney Plus Hotstar had 20.2 million viewers and ranked third.
jalsa on Amazon Prime Video with 13.9 million, Sharmaji Namkeen on Amazon Prime Video with 12.7 million, David on Netflix with 10.4 million, Forensic in Zee5 with 8.6 million, Thar on Netflix with 7.8 million, Love Hostel at Zee5 with 7.5 million and Looop Lapeta on Netflix, with 5.7 million, made up the remaining spots on the list of top 10 Hindi films.
6 of the Disney Plus Hotstar series in the top-10: Ajay Devgn’s Rudra, the winner
Among the Hindi webseries, the thriller by Ajay Devgn Rudra The Edge of Darkness on Disney Plus Hotstar emerged as the most watched, with an estimated audience of 35.2 million. ashram The third season on MX player with 34.3 million viewers was the second. The second season of Panchayat on Amazon Prime Video had 29.6 million viewers and ranked third on the list.
The Great Indian Murder on Disney Plus Hotstar with 23 million, Block 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, escape Live on Disney Plus Hotstar with 16.1 million and campus diaries on MX Player with 15.5 million make up the top 10 in that order.
Six of the Disney Plus Hotstar series were on the top 10 list. MX Player had 3 inputs while Amazon Prime Video had one. Netflix has some introspection to do, as none of its series made the top 10 list.
Suzhal – The Vortex among the greatest hits
Ormax said it would also start reporting numbers for non-Hindi content in the future. He also chose to mention Suzhal – The Vortexthe Tamil webseries on Amazon Prime Video and the Bengali webseries 9 hours on Disney Plus Hostar as having enjoyed large numbers.
Ormax also created a list of the hottest and most liked web series and movies for the same period. Panchayat created more buzz and was also more appreciated. The buzz-worthy list also includes Rocket Boys, HumanThe Game of Fame and Gullak Session 3.
Among the films in Hindi, the most popular were: Gehraiyaan, Thursday, Dasvi, Jalsa and Sharmaji Namkeen. As for the content, it was: A Thursday, Kaun Pravin Tambe?, Forensics, Thar and David
The 5 most watched international programs were: moon knight (23.4 million), lady marvel (16.7 million), Weird stuff Season 4 (15.8 million), The boys Season 3 (9.6 million) and We are all dead (7.8 million).
The research methodology
Taking a look at their survey, Ormax said it was conducted among audiences across India on a weekly level, designed for the OTT universe in India. It did not use any secondary data, including those released by public domain platforms.
He said the audience estimates represented the number of people who watched the show (at least a full episode) or movie (at least 30 minutes). “It does not represent the number of accounts used to watch the show/movie, for example three members of a family or two friends watching on the same account are considered a single audience,” he stated. Overseas ratings were not taken into account, and even if an audience member watched episodes spread out over several weeks, they were still counted only once.