Are web-series more profitable now?

Many actors even stars have started working on web-series and web films in recent past. With the surge in number of OTT platforms, the demand for content has increased and even satellite channels are trying to rope in popular faces for their daily serials and shows. But are these web-series more profitable than films and TV series?

The answer for this question lies in some of the details we always tend to overlook. We try to talk about content quality but forget about the effort that has been put into make the particular film or web-series. This effort decides the final budget of the film or web-series or TV series.

For a film, if we are roping in stars – we take their market worth according to the theatrical performances of their latest releases and general public perception about the particular person into account. For a web-series, we don’t have to be taking a person’s marketability into account, we need to take their popularity and availability into consideration.

Means even if we go for a star to rope in for a web-series, the star doesn’t have to be get paid according to the market norms. It is dependent on the negotiation capabilities of a producer to bring in the star on to the table. One can ask him or her to take remuneration half of what they do for a film and offer profit share post release looking at the performance.

As their popularity tends to bring in more people to that particular streaming service, content producer can negotiate a deal with service and the star to come for one particular amount and it depends on the star to make sure that it is profitable for him or her. For a producer, unless he or she makes a deal with the streaming service to take shares in profit he or she can produce content at low costs and go for content that doesn’t need heavy graphics work and go for only one star and many new faces to reduce overall costs. In films, as we go for theatrical performance, they need ensemble cast to make sure that audiences are glued to the screen all the time.

Well, web-series tend to bring in more viewers as they don’t need a viewer to travel a distance or pay for snacks even at a ticket price. It is safe to say that web-series look more profitable option but they cannot replace the rush that a theatrical performance gives a filmmaker. Still, for a quick profit or for a story to be told without any huge censorship, it is better to go web platforms route.

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