Planet Marathi OTT secures $5 million investment from private equity firm A & MA Capital

New Delhi: Marathi language video streaming platform Planet Marathi OTT said it has secured $5 million in funding from A&MA Capital, and the American private equity firm is expected to inject more money over the next two quarters.

“We are committed to growing the Indian regional entertainment space and with this significant investment, we are prepared to bolster our offerings and content slate. As a company, we stay dedicated to bringing the best quality entertainment on OTT and with our new partners we will take this dedication to newer heights,” Akshay Bardapurkar, founder, Planet Marathi OTT, said in a statement.

Dcafe, a media-tech company, has entered into a strategic agreement with Planet Marathi OTT, to strength the latter's technological capabilities. “The partnership with Dcafe platform represents a significant milestone for us, solidifying our position in the tech-driven entertainment landscape," Bardapurkar added.

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Hosting titles across genres like romance, comedy, family drama, politics, crime, thriller, and satire, Planet Marathi OTT is known for content such as Goshta Eka Paithanichi and Raanbaazaar.

The share of vernacular content will increase to 55% in the mid- to long-term of the total content produced, as regional OTT platforms flourish and achieve scale on the back of dubbing and subtitling, according to the latest Ficci and EY media and entertainment industry report. According to industry experts, the share of vernacular content is around 30% currently.

This could also lead to increased costs for regional content production, even though several video streaming platforms are yet to bet aggressively on non-Hindi original series even as the focus on producing diverse content remains. Now, regional content makes up less than 30% of OTT budgets and it could increase to 40-50%. A regional original can cost around  ₹20 crore to make.

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With subscriptions plateauing and large, foreign OTT platforms controlling budgets, smaller streaming services that focus on specific regional languages or a certain genre may be at an advantage, thanks to their smaller scale. Platforms like aha video and Planet Marathi say they haven’t had to cut budgets since they started cautiously and have benefited from catering to region-specific audiences. Their hyperlocal content and slow start have given them time to evaluate the market and they believe catering to a specific niche has its own advantages.