Data consumption in India has increased quite significantly in the last 6 months or so with Reliance recently announcing that JIO has crossed 100 million (10 crore) subscribers in just 170 days after its launch.
Jio was offering unlimited internet for free until December 31st, after which the free-usage limit was set to 1GB per day until March 31st. From April onwards, Jio will continue to offer 1GB data per day for just Rs 303 per month. In comparison, 1GB data on Airtel currently costs Rs 250, while Jio is offering the same for Rs 10!
The increase in data consumption has given a huge boost to YouTube publishers. The view-count of trailers and song promos has hit record levels – Dangal became the first Hindi film trailer to cross 50 million views. ‘The Humma Song’ has garnered nearly 140 million views in just 2 months after its release.
Before the launch of Jio, only 4-5 songs had crossed the 100 million mark. Now, Dheere Dheere Se has already crossed 200 million. Kala Chashma has 194 million views, Nashe Se Chadh Gayi has 184 million and older songs like Gerua and Tum Hi Ho have nearly doubled their view-count.
All of this is benefiting the music industry. But there could be a negative side to it too.
The biggest downside is piracy. Movies that could only be watched or downloaded from a broadband internet connection at home, can now be streamed on a mobile phone while traveling in a train or car.
During the release of Kaabil and Raees, we noticed that a new high-definition copy of the two films was uploaded onto Youtube, Facebook, Google Drive once every 4-5 mins. Some of those links garnered more than half a million views before they were taken down. Even if 20% of those viewers of one link had purchased a theatre ticket, the collections of each film would’ve probably increased by around 2 crore!
People are also sharing these links privately on Whatsapp groups, making it almost impossible for companies like Aiplex to take the links down – before it goes viral and before the movies have been watched by thousands of people.
How much of this is impacting film business? It may not necessarily have a huge impact on event films like Dangal, Sultan or even a big-screen experience like Baahubali or Padmavati, but smaller films that do not necessarily deserve a big-screen watch, could be affected big time. Even those films that opt to ‘clash’ at the box office could be affected because most people aren’t willing to spend on two movies per week.
The footfalls at theatres has gradually decreased every year in the last three years. If Jio continues to remain aggressive and comes up with unlimited data plans, the impact on film business could be quite significant in the next few years.
Very good article indicine this piracy is just destroying bollywood industry
You should use no piracy watch, only in theatres tag when you review, and in fbo of movies articles
Yes And Its Very Bad Tym For Bwood.. ?
Raees could have gone upto 140-150 crores if Jio was not there. Many people including my friend watched it in phone due to Jio
I can’t understand one thng- why can’t mvz b officially released by producers online on the day of release? ? jinhe theatre jana hai vo theatre jaenge hi aur jinhe online dekna hai vo online hi dekhenge..But by officially releasing d film online the makers can earn more money & reduce the impact of piracy
@indicine plz throw some light on my point
@Arjun Youngistaan Fan, that’s impossible. Theatre chains and owners will reject this idea. Once you allow it legally and people can watch the best available copy on mobile phone, it could become a habit and further reduce footfalls. The other question is about pricing. If you price it at 200 rupees, the 1000-rupee tickets will stop selling. The idea is suicidal for the industry. It could do widespread damage and shut theatres.
but actually one thing i dont agree is that trailer views and likes are majorly impacted by jio see kaabil songs and trailer it was just normal likes which could have even happened if jio was not there..
But see the likes of Raees most liked trailer 450k likes now its only because of srks stardom not because of jio i agree that 4 to 5% may be because of jio
piracy has impacted footfalls since the 90s but with internet boom followed by Android boom has led to drastica fall in footfalls. Industry is still doing well bcz of gd quality mvz being produced every year plus expensive ticket price but v r unable to rech our actual business potential
So i request producer to officially release films online on d day of it’s theatrical release
Bollywood made only few films which are only for theatre
raees kaabil and jllb2 are entertaining film they are only for theatres
audience use their money only in paisavasool film
not in like Rangoon okjaanu
only Bollywood filmamkers have to understand
that good film always do good buisness
shahid has become joke on social media every one is trolling him
no one is talking of his acting only talking about how big crap film is ragoon lol
next film that i will watch in theatre is
bkd
bahubali 2
tepk
tubelight
rehnuma
robot 2
golmaal 4
badshoo
padmavati (if film is good )
judwa2
tzh
dutt biopic
I dont think Jio will stop me from watching these films
Great stuff Indicine . Piracy is the biggest problem which the industry is facing today . Manjhi : The Mountain Man, Udta Punjab and Great Grand Masti failed badly because they were leaked before they released . UP would have done more business if it had not been leaked . Manjhi would have been a Semi Hit and GGM would not have been a Disaster . Reliance Jio is a boon for those people who love watching videos on YouTube, Hotstar and Vimeo . But the flip side people are opting to download movies rather than watching on the big screen . Piracy affects all kind of films but films that release on festivals get a kind of advantage due to holidays and families willing to watch movies in cinemas . I don’t watch all films but I don’t indulge in piracy . If I don’t see a film I wait for the TV premiere or don’t watch the film at all . But people share pirated copies of films to their friends and relatives which really affects business . It is almost impossible to curb piracy but I hope Film Industry and the GOI can do something to prevent films from being leaked . If majority of the websites will be blocked than it might be a short term solution for this problem .
What about udta punjab??? You never said about it. But you said that udta punjab benifitted from controversy on opening day . So , according to you the movie which leaked 2 day after release are more affected than movie which Ieaked even 2 day before release ??? Because one have your favorite actor but other don’t have.
but actually one thing i dont agree is that trailer views and likes are majorly impacted by jio see kaabil songs and trailer it was just normal likes which could have even happened if jio was not there but see the likes of raees most liked trailer 450k likes now its only because of srks stardom not because of jio i agree that 4 to 5% may be because of jio post
Yes it is affecting a lot.
Earlier only those who had Wifi used to download these movies and circulate to their friends but today every raju , pappu is downloading and the popular debate is ‘ abe mere paas acche print me h’.
It is sad to accept that i also see some movies pirated.
Only the movies featuring big stars are worth risking the money, i saw dangal, kaabil, raees ,jolly in theatre . It is impossible for me to see every movie in theatre , the rates are just too high. We are left with the pirated versions.
And there are filmmakers like anurag kashyap supporting piracy because he knows that people know him becauce of piracy.
No matter ho many articles you publish, piracy is not going to stop unless each and every illegal sites are banned.
hot news but this is not enough
They should immediately release the movie in hd on youtube after its theatre run
This will help bcoz people cannot wait so long for tv premieres also ticket price is another reason for piracy
Production houses like dharma gives movies in rs on youtube now thats also unfair
I remember last year Drishyam was quite popular film among youth. Almost all my friends had watched it but sadly all of of them watched it on mobile. These kind of medium size good films are affected the most by piracy.
I as Bollywood fan have decided that I will never watch pirated copy of film but again sadly only few true Bollywood fans like us care about this issue.
The kind of films our industry is offering, the audience is always in a sort of dilemma whether to spend their hard earned money on a film in a multiplex… a Rs. 1000 can fetch 40Kgs of Wheat flour or 15Kgs of rice which is the ultimate need of a middle class family…
As far as smaller films like ‘Haraamkhor’, ‘Manjhi’, etc., are concerned, they could be released via DTH on the same day while releasing them in the 4 metro cities only, because everybody involved, right from the makers to the audience know that no one is going to watch them in theatre but everybody also wants to watch these for their novelty, so why don’t they release them simultaneously through DTH !!!..
A film watching in theatrer TV laptop or mobile are completely different experience otherwise Dangal never did 385cr
@arjun youngistan fan
Releasing movies online on same day would do more harm than good. Many people go to theaters simply because a good copy is not available online. Families will not go to the theaters, instead watch the online version on TV. That will save their 1000 rupees worth of tickets.
2ndly, if they start releasing movies on internet it will not be “cinema” anymore.
@indicine
“During the release of Kaabil and Raees, we noticed that a new high-definition copy of the two films was uploaded onto Youtube, Facebook, Google Drive once every 4-5 mins”
original HD prints? Where and how did uplpaders got original HD prints just a day after release? Only producers and cbfc have that. Producers won’t leak at all. Again cbfc leak here?
Your take?
Stay original stay best!
The movie moghuls pay a ransom to the film’s leading guy. Everyone thinks their film is gonna do at least 100 crores. This is crazy. A film should be complete in less than Rs 15 crores. If the film’s leading guy thinks he is going to bring 100 crores revenue, then let him take a cut out of the film’s total business. Let him prove his star worth.
All this high spending translates to costly ticket pricing. India is still a poor country with a big appetite for movies. Look at TN. The ticket price cannot go beyond Rs. 100 per ticket.
I myself would rather sit at home and watch the film with the family for a maximum of Rs. 100. If film makers can wing it, do it. I love the fact that I watch almost all movies on mobile or computer almost free. I would love to spend on movies like Inception, Now you see me, Drishyam, Avatar, Matrix series, etc. But there is no way I want to spend Rs 300 on a ticket starring Salman to watch Ready, Tiger, Wanted and such
Great stuff indicine, you always come with new and intreresting articles.
Just want to ask: have you heard the rumours about the katrina-deepika duo doing the srk-anand. Rai film?
Indicine you are missing the main point, rubbish films are coming out from Bollywood the last few years only certain films are worth watching in the cinema, why would people waste money on these movies!! Privacy has been going for over so many decades its nothing new and nothing will be done!!! India has a population of over 1 billion and only a few million go to cinema? The whole box office is backwards I have said it on a number of occasion why are Bollywood films released in india only include indian collections and not worldwide? Hollywood always have it as worldwide!! India want to be unique and this is a slap on their faces!! 2016 only had a handful of hit movies and more than 300 films flopped!!! its going the right way!! keep it up!!!
I already said same thing here..!
Movies released on big weekends will not get affected much , but non holiday movies are getting affected.
The quality of Hindi movies have Also decreased honestly.. Some movies hve good content but they r Slow pace and some r same Old Type commercial movies .. Also One Reason of Decline if bollywd.
TWMR,Bazrngi, housefull3,ADHM,jolly 2 ..these r only movies of last 2 years which I have enjoyed thoroughly or which I can watch again n again …haven’t seen some movies like pink, dngl, kaabil .
Very Very Good Article Indicine.. Kudos
In my opinion nothing in this world can affect one thing and tat is this planet’s biggest super-duper mega gigantic thunderous solo star named shah rofl khan ..I mean no piracy can affect this man. …. tat is why it is called for him tat “”you can love shah rofl khan or u can hate shah rofl khan but u cannot And I mean cannot ignore shah rofl khan because he is seen everywhere during his movie promotions like even on railway platforms..u cannot cannot ignore him at all…
I Know one of my friend who comes with a new movies every weekend and shares with all the colleagues.
And he is very proud of what he is doing…Raees Kaabil to mere office me Friday Afternoon hi release ho gaya mobile pe.
But Jio is not the culprit we are. We should udersatnd. They are offering us free data that’s good it was must for a healthy competition. All the service providers be it Airtel, Vodaphone etc were looting us.
Airtel was giving 1gb data for INR300+ today i have recived a msg from airtel which reads “147 rs me paayiye 14 gb data aur local call ekdum free”
don’t know kon gadhe log net pe movie dekhte hain or kese dekh lete hain ..how?? if I’m interested even a disaster gilm like haramkhor I will watch it in theatre, nd if I’m not interested in a grand film like dangal then I won’t watch it even on tv .. simple …atleast indicine readers plz don’t watch movies on mobile with ghatiya 3rd class picture quality