Not too long ago, OTT in India was all about glossy Bollywood blockbusters and high-octane dramas. But scroll through any platform today you shall witness a change in the content. If you’re bingeing Shark Tank India or getting pulled into a gripping true-crime docuseries instead of the latest thriller, you’re not alone.
Non-fiction—be it reality shows, candid talk formats, entrepreneurial journeys, or unvarnished documentaries all now have become a response to our craving for something real in an age saturated with 5G, infinite scrolls, and shrinking attention spans.
To comprehend how we got here, rewind to the early OTT boom between 2016 and 2020. Back then, platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video vowed for fiction. The platforms’ pledge was no-frills: cinema, straight to your screen. They brought in blockbuster budgets, marquee names, and tightly-scripted drama. And the formula worked, however. But now in 2025, and the story has changed. Non-fiction isn’t just vying—it’s bogarting.
Why the change? For starters, non-fiction is more cost-effective. Producing a reality show or a docu-series is significantly cheaper than a sprawling period drama with CGI and A-list actors. That matters at a time when platforms are watching their budgets more carefully. But there’s more to it than money. It’s about the audience—us.
With Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities from where millions of eyeballs come onto viewing channels, stories are now in demand that are genuine and accessible. These shows–Shark Tank India, Bigg Boss OTT, or The Great Indian Kapil Show, Hip Hop India, Battleground-are not just entertainment; they are events. These shows generate conversations, memes, debates, and even family watch parties. Rarely does fiction ever get to enjoy such an engagement.
Non-fiction also presents India’s diversity in ways that scripted programming usually does not. Disparate regional platforms such as Aha and ZEE5 are bringing us Telugu food shows and Marathi cultural documentaries, among others. There is suddenly room for voices we rarely hear—anywhere from LGBTQ+ stories, documentaries celebrating India’s heritage, to startup journey stories such as Ashneer Grover’s Rise and Fall on Amazon MX Player. These stories are not only watchable; they are relatable, aspirational and deeply Indian.
There is the regulatory piece to discuss. With stricter guidelines related to content, especially language and adult themes, many platforms view unscripted formats as a safe but still compelling alternative. Advertisers see the value of facts-based content, as product placements and branded integrations in reality shows are seeing worthwhile returns against a backdrop that finds piracy still eroding margins.
However, there is a crapshoot here; new platforms are now determining the value of non-fiction and with new content coming to market every day the risk of oversaturation will rise. Formulaic reality tv shows do not produce “Adverse” viewing conditions, but you can spoil the audience’s appetite for them quite easily. The challenge moving forward will be new formats. With AI-driven recommendations, and the adoption of 5G for streaming, interactive formats such as real-time polling, live voting and voice-driven episodic content could become the norm.
But here’s why this shift truly matters: non-fiction doesn’t just entertain, it resonates. It has the power to provoke, to reflect, and to inspire. Whether it’s Indian Predator skinning back the coatings of society’s swarthiest corners or a sports docu-series spotlighting merciless grit and stability, these stories do more than fill time. They challenge our perceptions, stimulate real emotion, and often prompt us to pledge beyond the screen. In obfuscating the line between viewer and subject, non-fiction fosters a kind of dialogue that scripted fiction, for all its polish, rarely achieves.
As India’s OTT industry races toward a magnetic future, non-fiction could be the glue that connects urban and rural audiences, local and global narratives. It’s real, it’s raw, and it’s unapologetically us.
