The mid-year list of top 50 originals published by media consulting firm Ormax underscores this trend. Among the most-watched titles are Tamil fiction series Suzhal – The Vortex season two (8.3 million), Office (5.4 million) and Heart Beat (7 million), Malayalam fiction series Kerala Crime Files season two (6.9 million), Tamil film Test (6.5 million), and Telugu fiction series Devika & Danny (5.2 million).
Shifting audience tastes
Entertainment industry experts say several factors are fuelling this shift. Platforms are gradually investing in high-quality regional originals, while Gen Z and millennials—especially after the pandemic—are showing a growing desire to connect with their roots. Importantly, audiences are now willing to embrace good-quality content regardless of the language.
“There has been a decisive shift in OTT viewing patterns over the past few years, with audiences moving away from a Hindi-dominant diet toward a far more diverse mix of languages. Audiences are gravitating toward hyperlocal stories told in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Kannada, Marathi and other languages that reflect their own cultural identities but are executed with cinematic quality. Affordable data and smartphone access have broken down barriers, and younger, digital-first viewers are navigating multiple genres and languages seamlessly in a single viewing journey,” a ZEE5 spokesperson said.
On the platform, growing penetration in tier-two and tier-three markets has pushed non-Hindi content to nearly half of total viewership, even as demand for Hindi content itself remains robust, the spokesperson added.
Regional OTT content in India is experiencing strong growth, driven by cultural relevance, language familiarity, and hyper-local storytelling, agreed Devyani Ozarde, managing director and lead – media and entertainment, Accenture in India.
In fact, several regional originals are already outperforming mainstream Hindi titles in time spent and engagement, as platforms and creators successfully tap into this demand with unique and localized offerings, she added.
Numbers tell the story
Since 2023, a distinct shift has emerged in India’s OTT consumption patterns, with audiences increasingly embracing content in regional languages alongside Hindi, according to entertainment industry experts.
Regional language content now accounts for over 50% of OTT viewership—a sharp rise from just a few years ago, when Hindi dominated with a 12–15% higher share, said Chandrashekar Mantha, partner, media and entertainment sector leader, Deloitte India.
This evolving preference extends beyond native productions to include international content dubbed or subtitled in Hindi and regional languages.
“Hindi still forms the majority of our viewership, particularly because our originals and flagship programming are primarily Hindi-first. Localisation into other languages along with a strong recommendation engine, we are seeing promising growth beyond Hindi as well. We see this trend play out strongly, particularly through our Vdesi category, where international content, from Asian shows to global hits are localized into Hindi and several Indian languages. This has resonated with viewers, driving multi-fold growth in users and weekly engagement as new shows are launched,” said Amogh Dusad, director and head of content, Amazon MX Player.
Charu Malhotra, co-founder and managing director, Primus Partners, noted that some viewers are simply tired of repetitive Hindi formats. “Hindi is still the biggest (in terms of consumption), but more people are fine mixing languages now,” she said.
Industry experts believe this is benefiting the entire ecosystem. While large global and Indian players are now investing in regional content, it does not threaten smaller platforms focused only on regional languages. Instead, it expands the overall category. “Good content with rooted stories will thrive, as authentic, hyperlocal storytelling continues to win audiences,” added Dhanya Mohan, Lead – Strategy, TheSmallBigIdea, a digital marketing agency.
Hindi still strong, but losing share
To be sure, Hindi continues to command the largest share of viewership in India, according to industry experts. However, in the past two to three years, its share has declined in relative terms as non-Hindi content has grown significantly.
Kaushik Das, founder and CEO of AAO NXT, an Odia language platform, explained: This shift is driven by two things: one, the rise of subtitles and dubbing as a default viewing habit, and two, the search for authenticity. Viewers today want stories that feel rooted in a culture, yet have universal emotions. Hindi remains dominant, but it no longer monopolises attention and audiences are more language-agnostic than ever before.
“Quality has been a major reason for increased viewership of regional content, as it was earlier considered inferior in scale and production value. We took the plunge by investing heavily in high-quality content, and the results are clearly visible,” said Ujjwal Mahajan, co-founder, Chaupal, a platform specialising in Punjabi, Haryanvi and Bhojpuri content.
