There's a war for succession going on. Who gets to become the new television?

There are two challengers. The first challenger is Youtube.

According to Neal Mohan, YouTube CEO, TV screens have officially overtaken mobile as the "primary device for YouTube viewing in the US".

It is, as Mohan writes in his annual letter from the CEO, an indication that YouTube is the new television.

It's interactive and includes things like shorts, podcasts, and live streams alongside sports, sitcoms, and talk shows that people already love.

It is getting there organically by adding things like memberships, monetisation tools, partner programs, and super chats, and it's letting creators play with them to create content that takes eyeballs away from linear television.

On the other hand, there are streaming companies like Netflix and Jiohotstar, who also want to become the successor for new television, and they do it by owning and producing exclusive content and IP such as live sports, Disney, Marvel, HBO, and a whole lot more.

All of this came to a head a couple of days back after Jiohotstar live-streamed its Mahashivratri event. It had a lot of the same elements as Youtube live events.

Viewers could switch between temple feeds, listen to mythological narratives or engage in real-time chanting and live Q&A sessions, transforming passive viewing into active participation.

Jio Hotstar is redefining live streaming by making shared cultural moments more immersive.

To discuss this, hosts Praveen Gopal Krishnan and Rohin Dharmakumar invited two wonderful guests.

Our first guest is Swati Mohan, the ex-head of marketing at Netflix India. She's also an independent advisor to many consumer tech companies. She’s led large business verticals and has had leadership roles in media companies such as GroupM, Nat Geo, and many others across India and APAC.

And our second guest is Vanita Kohli-Khandekar. She is an India-based media specialist and a contributing editor for Business Standard, where she has written about media and the business of media for over two decades.

She also writes for Singapore-based Content Asia. The Media Room, her podcast on all things media and entertainment, is hosted on The Core. She has also authored the authoritative book on India’s media landscape titled The Indian Media Business.

In this episode, we discuss which of these two contenders will become the new television.

What will YouTube do, and how will it get there? What will streaming companies do, and how will they get there?

Welcome to episode 32 of Two by Two.

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Additional reading:

Jiohotstar is not content

The 'linearisation' of streaming: How OTTs are becoming more like TV

Additional listening:

Netflix and its last growth market

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This episode of Two by Two was produced by Hari Krishna. Rajiv CN, our resident sound engineer, mixed and mastered this episode.

If you liked this episode of Two by Two, please share it with your friends and family who would be interested in listening to the episode. And if you have more thoughts on the discussion, we’d love to hear your arguments as well. You can write to us at [email protected].