India has highest viewership of films on Netflix, Kappela in top 10

Netflix on Thursday said India has the highest viewership of films globally on its platform and consumption of content in genres like kids, non-fiction and Korean dramas is also witnessing a strong growth.

Over the top (OTT) players like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+Hotstar have seen massive growth in the past few years on the back of cheap data tariffs and availability of affordable smartphones.

Lockdown and pandemic paved way for OTT

The pandemic-induced lockdown further accelerated the consumption of services like online video and music streaming in the country.

"India has the highest viewing of films on Netflix globally and over the last year, 80 per cent of our members in India chose to watch a film every week," Netflix India Vice President (Content) Monika Shergill said in a blogpost.

Kappela among top viewership

A few regional films were among many other films that featured in India's Top 10 row. Malayalam movie Kappela starring Anna Ben, Roshan Mathew and Sreenath Bhasi too managed to find a spot. The movie directed by Musthafa and produced by Vishnu Venu hit the theaters early this year in March just before the lockdown was imposed. Later on, the film was released through the online streaming platform Netflix on 22 June 2020.

'Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo' (Telugu), 'Kannum Kannum Kollaiyadithaal' (Tamil) and 'Uma Maheswara Ugra Roopasya' (Telugu) were among the other regional films in top 10 row.

Other leads

While the most popular thriller was 'Raat Akeli Hai', 'Extraction', 'Malang' and 'The Old Guard' were the most popular action films and 'Ludo' the most popular comedy film.

Money heist and K-dramas

International content also gained major popularity among Indian viewers in 2020. The series Dark and Money Heist gained major popularity.

“Dark was on the Top 10 row in India for 95 days and Money Heist featured on our Top 10 row for 170 days,” according to the blog post.

The viewing of K-dramas (Korean dramas) on Netflix in India increased more than 370 per cent in 2020 over the previous year, as viewers binged on titles like 'The King: Eternal Monarch', 'Kingdom (S2)', 'It's Okay to Not Be Okay' and 'Start-up'.

Non-fiction segment

According to the statement, "The viewing for non-fiction series on Netflix in India grew more than 250 per cent in 2020 over 2019. Documentary viewing also grew more than 100 per cent in 2020 over 2019.”

The most popular non-fiction shows were 'Too Hot to Handle', 'Indian Matchmaking' and the recently released 'Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives'.

Kids titles

According to Shergill, the viewing of kid's titles increased more than 100 per cent in India in 2020 over the preceding year.

“The kids adored travelling to outer space with Over The Moon, which was the most popular kids’ title on Netflix in India in 2020. The kids also loved to discover the meaning of a family with The Willoughbys and Boss Baby: Back in Business (S4) and grooved with Feel the Beat,” wrote Shergill.

“Special mention to the lovable Mighty Little Bheem (S3) that featured in the Top 10 lists in the most number of countries globally,” she added.