At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the OTT platform was hailed as the saviour of entertainment and the future platform for the next golden age of films and TV. Most of this is true, as is the fact that OTT platforms, like print and TV of yore, could also become the dumping ground for rejected material. Looking at some of the recent performances of high-concept, much-talked-about films such as Laxmii and Torbaaz, it appears that the bend in the road has presented itself a tad earlier than expected.
F Scott Fitzgerald might not have had OTT platforms in mind when he famously expressed that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function”. But it seems the good people at the likes of Netflix have embodied the great American writer’s quote. This is best illustrated when it comes to deciphering viewer habits where more than 80 percent of what people watch on Netflix is through a recommendation system. When it comes to humans, however, its executives seem intent to carry on pitching on mules instead of thoroughbreds.
Look around, and you’d notice how much of your choice might be AI at play. A few years ago, much was written about how Netflix’s mysterious algorithm works—where the black box breaks down viewing data from over 250 million profiles into two categories, implicit and explicit. The former works if you like a show or film and the latter gathers data based on what you saw (read binge-watched) but didn’t like or recommend. On the one hand, the system’s machines learn and design things in a way where you get something that you “don’t even know you want yet”, and on the other hand, there are executives who pick up a film or approve shows based on what appears to be more of a ‘personal’ preference.
There is often opportunity in the face of adversity, but most emergencies also expedite the risk of running out of course faster. OTT platforms are this generation’s multiplexes where you need to feed the monster continually. In the early days of the internet, traditional media felt that an online presence meant putting up everything on the web. We have come to a place where a leading newspaper carried an article entirely written by AI that spoke about the future man-machine relationship. The failure of Laxmii or Torbaaz suggests that the reason why people opted for OTT platforms, was the freedom to choose. Yet some pockets do exist where men sitting in rooms assume they know better.
Gautam Chintamani gautam@chintamani.org
Film historian and bestselling author