IAR Journal of Business Management to Study the Perception of Youth on Webseries During Covid-19 Lockdown in Mumbai

IAR Journal of Business Management ISSN Print: 2708-5139 | ISSN Online: 2708-5147 Frequency: Bi-Monthly Language: English Origin: Kenya Website: https://www.iarconsortium.org/journal-info/IARJBM Research Article To Study the Perception of Youth on Webseries during Covid-19 Lockdown in Mumbai Article History Abstract: With restaurants, malls and multiplexes closed in India because of Lockdown, people now spend a lot of time watching movies and shows on OTT Received: 08.11.2020 (Over-The-Top) platforms such as Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Zee 5 etc. OTT Revision: 29. 12.2020 (Over-the-top) streaming platforms are creating new wave in the field of Indian Accepted: 09. 01.2021 media especially during COVID-19 lockdown. They showcase different genre of Published: 20. 01.2021 programmes like videos, movies, web series, documentaries, short films etc. Among Author Details all, Web series are of great delight for the youngsters. The presentation of the web Ms. Harpreet Kaur Dhandyal series is quite attractive unlike other daily TV soaps. Since, it can run on all digital Authors Affiliations devices like smartphone, its popularity is growing leaps and bound. Hence, making Assistant Professor, Guru Nanak Khalsa it a personalized viewing at one‟s convenience. However, this web series culture has College, Matunga, Mumbai 400019, India an impact on youth especially during Covid-19 lockdown. Already in the time of Corresponding Author* uncertainty of COVID-19 pandemic anxiety and stress levels are quite high, on the Ms. Harpreet Kaur Dhandyal top the web series also intend to influence them. This research is carried with the objective to find the perception of youth on web series during COVID-19 lockdown How to Cite the Article: in Mumbai beginning from 23rd March, 2020. Nearly 20 respondents were Ms. Harpreet Kaur Dhandyal (2021); To contacted over the telephone and an unstructured interview was conducted. Study the Perception of Youth on Webseries during Covid-19 Lockdown in Mumbai. IAR Keywords: OTT, Web series, abusive language, intimate scenes, violence, J Bus Mng; 2021; 2(1): 70-73. depression, night viewing, impact of Paatal Lok and Mirzapur, Objectionable Copyright @ 2021: This is an open-access content, Sleep cycle, Anxiety. article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and INTRODUCTION reproduction in any medium for non OTT Platforms are streaming media platforms which reach the viewers commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY- through data usage via the Internet. OTT boycotts all conventional NC) provided the original author and source are credited. platforms like cable, broadcast and satellite platforms (www.investopedia.com) presently; there are around 40 OTT platforms in India. OTT market in India worth Rs 21.5 billion in the financial year 2018 and its value is growing day by day. OTT platforms offer personalised viewing at one‟s convenience through mobile phones and other digital devices. Since the Internet service providers are offering data at high speed and low cost, it has attracted nearly 40 crore smart phone users which led to speedy growth in the Entertainment sector especially of OTT platforms (Singh, P. 2019). OTT platforms has high reach and popularity among the people of India, as mentioned on a report by KPMG EROS which state that everyday Indians spend 70 minutes on video streaming (https://indianfolk.com). WEBSERIES Webseries are series of video episodes released on OTT streaming platforms to attract as many viewers as possible. Webseries is more popular than films on OTT platforms in the times of social distancing and self- quarantine. According to a report in The Hindu, around 61% of viewers prefer webseries as against 21% opting for movies between March 19th to 25th 2020 – a study conducted by a Media Consulting firm, Ormax Media (https://www.thehindu.com) .The Kota factory, Scared Games, Panchayat, Mirzapur, The Family Man, Paatal Lok, Special OPS are some of the famous web series steaming on various OTT platforms during the COVID-19 lockdown in India. Generally, the youth of India is quite attracted towards webseries due to convenience, personalised viewing, cost efficiency and Foreign content and has favourable perception towards it. On the other hand, many feel that these webseries have negative impact in youth and society at large. Some webseries streaming in India like Paatal Lok, Mirzapur, Abhay portray high level of violence. Bihar CM Mr. Nitish Kumar mentioned that criminal activities are increasing due to indecent and violent portrayals in Webseries. Nitish Kumar said that these programs have a „negative impact‟ on the public and should be censored (https://www.informalnewz.com). He complained that people were being exposed to "vulgar and objectionable content" and that this had a "serious effect on the minds of those who see" such content (NDTV. 21, June, 2020). Available Online: https://iarconsortium.org/journal-info/IARJBM 70 Ms. Harpreet Kaur Dhandyal. , IAR J Bus Mng; Vol-2: Iss- 1 (Jan-Feb, 2021): 70-73 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: generally the language used is HINDI. It gives them To determine the perception of youth on specific different content to watch unlike TV soaps. web series like Paatal Lok and Mirzapur. To find the time spend by youth on watching the Average time spent by youth on web series during Web series during COVID-19 lockdown. COVID-19 lockdown To identify the general perception of youth on all Webseries streaming on OTT platforms RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS Majority of youth has a negative perception of the specific Web series like Paatal Lok and Mirzapur on them. Youth spends nearly 2 to 3 hours every day in webseries. The general perception of the youth is favourable towards all webseries streaming on OTT platforms SAMPLE DESIGN This study is conducted on a sample of 20 respondents Simple Random Sampling 25% of the youth spend on an average 2.5 hours on Age: 18-25 web series on OTT platforms. 20% of youth spends 1.5 Gender: Male & Female hours and 10% of them spends 5.5 hours. However, it is METHODOLOGY alarming to note that around 5% of the population spends 8.9 hours daily during the lockdown. However, Primary Data Collection- (Survey) 5% of the youth has been observed merely spends 0.5 Unstructured Interview method hours on OTT platform because either they are working from home or have enrolled in some professional DATA ANALYSIS courses like Engineering or Medical. With Most of the 1. The preference of youth for OTT platforms examinations cancelled, youth are almost free at home NETFLIX 13 viewing some OTT platforms. The average time spend AMAZON PRIME VIDEO 6 by the youth has doubled during Covod-19 lockdown. HOTSTAR 1 This proves our second hypothesis. TOTAL 20 Preference of the youth which time of the day they watch webseries Netflix is the most preferred OTT platform among youth. As 65% youth chose Netflix over other platforms seconded by Amazon Prime. They feel that overall choices of the content in Netflix is much more 70% of them prefer to watch at night, 20% at than others, Subscribers get multiple benefits like early evening and 10% at day time. Majority of them watch releases. Better exposure level as International content after 10 pm at night which extends to 12 midnight to 4 are more. There are many value-added positive web am in the morning. As every individual require 8 hours series on Netflix. Amazon Prime Video is also liked by of sleep every night but most of them have sleep debt of Indian youth as the presentation is quite attractive and 2 or 3 hours which indirectly effect their mental and physical health. Some of them admit that extensive Available Online: https://iarconsortium.org/journal-info/IARJBM 71 Ms. Harpreet Kaur Dhandyal. , IAR J Bus Mng; Vol-2: Iss- 1 (Jan-Feb, 2021): 70-73 viewing at night has led to sleep loss, poor quality General perception of youth on all web series sleep, and daytime tiredness. streaming on OTT platform Responses on abusive language & intimate scenes in web series like (Paatal Lok and Mirzapur) Youth have mixed perception (neither favourable nor unfavourable) regarding all web series showcased on OTT platforms .55% of youth has neutral feeling about webseries. Some consider web series as good and some as bad (based on the impact of webseries on them and their families). The third hypothesis is not proved 75% of the youth considers use of abusive language as youth did not think favourable about webseries. and intimate scene in webseries like Paatal Lok and They have neutral feeling regarding web series since Mirzapur are quite high. Some said that during they consider some as informative and entertaining and Lockdown they have watched content with family some too violent and vulgar. members which made them quite uncomfortable to watch with them. Moreover, some have learnt the Overall Conclusions offensive language used in the webseries and try to use The findings reveal that most of the youth are on others. Some mentioned that they casually use such attracted towards web series because of the language among friends. Many advocates some kind of presentation, content and personalised viewing at their censorship to be imposed on such webseries. This own convenience. The script and content provide more proves the first hypothesis innovation, newness as compare to TV soaps which build up their interest to great extent for webseries. Responses on violence shown in web series like However, majority of youth objected against web series Paatal Lok and Mirzapur like Paatal Lok and Mirzapur for showcasing vulgarity and violence extensively. They objected against glorifying violence and abusive language. They feel that such actions are slowly becoming socially acceptable, if not censored on time.

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