amazon in users to prime subscribers google and facebook have done this naturally beyond core search and social network businesses respectively until 2015end a lions share of the ott market belonged to youtube part of the google arsenal and whatsapp a facebook company is emerging as a dominant channel for videos to go viral apart from the parent companys video ambitions customers here are watching digital content for free either via an advertis ingsupported video service or because pirated video services are still high kripalani explains but amazon cus tomers are superinterested in video they are engaging with the service our content selection which is making prime a highgrowth product it is reflecting in our consumption and signup figures in the us the 136billion online retail giant has added reading kindlebased twitch gaming audible channels audio content and photo family vault as new primeexclusive digital benefits last year stratecherry a subscriptionbased newsletter featuring analysis of tech and media news quoted a consumer intelligent research partners estimate in march 2016 that amazon has 54 million prime members which at 99member would generate 53 billion in revenue globally like in india prime video is available at no extra cost to amazon prime members in belgium canada france italy and spain the ott fight between youtube netflix and amazon has been more than a wakeup call for broadcasters telecom operators and content creators who are rejigging plans for the ott consumerthey have to move says brian morris general manager of global media and entertainment services at tata communications if they want to stay competitive and provide reach to mobile consumers ott is not an option it is a requirement launched in february 2015 hotstar has stood out for its timing and heavy investment in marketing the brand whose live sports events usher in masses of users the biggest gain in ott is from indian premier league t20 cricket which is why hotstar is what it is nath says a sports series guarantees mobilevideo platforms of 510 million users depending on the targeted geography content wins ott video means customers increase their data consumption and mobile operators will see average revenue per user go up content owners too can choose from a range of platforms they are in the spotlight only much louder oml which manages shows for comedy and live events for brands like all india bakchod aib are working with two ott companies hotstar and amazon primethe marketing heavylifting by these guys like what hotstar is doing for on air with aib and what amazon has been doing with comedy specials 14 standup comedy episodes of an hour each has definitely got us new fans says ajay nair director of oml with amazon prime or hotstar i know the subscriber is going to spend time there the battle is on for content as netflix alone added 600 hours of original programming apart from licensed tv shows and movies to its yearold service here in absolute numbers online video advertising dominates