Saina Play aims to get ahead in OTT race with its 400+ movie catalogue

The OTT space in Malayalam is already getting crowded, but its latest entrant, Saina Play, could have a leg up on the competition, with its expansive movie catalogue.

The OTT platform, which was launched in February 2021, is a subsidiary of Saina Audio Video, one of Kerala’s oldest media and entertainment company specialising in content acquisition, distribution and marketing.

While the OTT platform is new, the company has prior experience operating in digital space. Saina Play’s executive director Ashiq Bava tells us, “Saina Play was in the works from 2018. When we began, we were the only Malayalam-focused platform.”

On the selection of movies available on the platform, he says, “Currently, there are about 400 titles and we are planning on adding around four titles every month.”

The parent company, Saina Audio Video, has a library collection of around 700 titles and Ashique says that Saina Play has acquired the digital rights for all the content acquired from 1997 and most of these are already made available on the platform.

SainaPlay currently has around 250k downloads and that they expect it to rise to one million by the end of 2021, he says.

Talking about the competition, Ashique says, “Most bigger video streaming services only focus on the number of customers and big titles that they can showcase to the national or international audience. But our aim is to promote regional content and to provide an opportunity for movies that could not make it to the bigger platforms.”

The OTT platform will also venture into movie production, apart from acquisition, distribution and music. “We have invited scripts for the same,” the official concludes.