How web series are finally breaking the star stranglehold in media

If we look at the top 10 by gross global collections, it is dominated by cartoon themed/animated franchisees like Avengers, Black Panthers,Incredibles, Jurassic Park. There are of course, actor led concepts like Mission Impossible, Venom but these are dying down. In Bollywood of course, there are still star driven hits as apparent by the lists where Raazi, Bajrangi etc dominate. it would seem that hits(as defined by viewers and reviews) can be delivered only by casting 'stars'. The occasional hit of 'Sairat' does not detract from this present trend. Still, things are changing. For example, who can name the actors of TV series off hand or say that they are household names? Yet they are good and deliver credits. Some other points to ponder over:

1) The two recent hit shows of Mirzapur and Made in Heaven star good TV actors but not stars. This is showcasing the victory of acting over brand value

2) The 2018 hits of 2.0, Badhai Ho, Raazi owed less to the acting/cast than the special effects/unique plot/patriotic sentiment respectively at that time. So the trend is not limited to TV series alone.

3) The creative use of OOH(Out of Home media) to promote these TV series substitutes for the usual big bang marketing around the release window to pull people into theaters. One does not need the marketing by the stars which usually the biggies do.

4) Binge watching of 8-10 episodes of 45 minutes each is nearly 6-8 hours of content which is easily 2x-3x the length of a typical movie. Hence, the two formats are comparable as they compete for viewers.

5) Amazon Fire stick, Flat TVs and digital TVs help to ensure that the whole family or groups of friends can watch it, so it is a realistic option to movies.

That said, the blockbuster format of movies is not dead-there will always be demand for 'censor cleared' family grade entertainment which by design is not delivered by TV series. But for the 14-30 age group, it is questionable whether they will continue to watch movies just because of a star when they are exposed to other good options.

Further, the TV series are not yet economically viable as evident by any public metrics. The viewers pay for these via other bundles like Amazon Prime/Vodafone Play, or nominal subscriptions below 80-100/month for Hotstar/Voot. Unlike a movie which can measure profitability by overall gross profit, series not being separately monetized can only have an indirect long term measurement on customer life time value(CLV). So the jury is still out on whether ultimately these are loonshot bets or a fad.

References

https://www.financialexpress.com/entertainment/cinema-on-way-out-the-future-is-the-web-here-is-why/858435/ a slightly dated read on why original content makes sense