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Teleplays, drama serials for TV channels suffer amid OTT rise
The production of teleplays and drama serials for television channels is suffering due to lack of budget amid a rise of over-the-top platforms.
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Teleplays, drama serials for TV channels suffer amid OTT rise
MA Aslam Molla 01 March, 2025, 01:08
The production of teleplays and drama serials for television channels is suffering due to lack of budget amid a rise of over-the-top platforms.
Such mass entertainment productions for the purposes of festivals or national days only get somewhat higher budget, industry insiders said.
‘A quality teleplay needs minimum four to six days of shooting involving production costs and casts, but the television channels offer maximum Tk 2,00,000 for a 40-minitue production,’ said former Director’s Guild general secretary SM Kamruzzaman Sagor, adding that the TV channels raised budgets only for productions aimed at festival days, including Eid, Valentine’s Day and national days.
The low-cost productions, even the special productions of the TV channels, cannot compete with the productions by OTT platforms due to lack of budget, said Kamruzzaman.
Young director and scriptwriter Preety Dutta said that a lot of TV channels created possibilities of works.
‘Now the TV channels maintain social media, including YouTube, Instagram and Facebook commercially so the budget for the regular television drama is higher now than that in the past two or three years,’ said Preety, adding that the budget depended on actors.
The TV channels allocate a healthy budget for the Eid teleplays, said Preety, adding that due to the recent political unrests, the TV channels decreased the budget for the forthcoming Eid teleplays.
Producers and directors with casts and crew members work as a team as the TV channels need quality productions with a lot of terms and conditions, as the TV productions are made for common audiences, added Preety, who is aiming to work for the OTT platforms where directors get financial and artistic freedom for the story’s demand.
Director Hasan Rezaul said that the regular portion of the television programme for drama was decreasing.
Due to the recent political unrests in the country, the TV channels also decreased the budget for the forthcoming Eid special dramas, said Hasan, adding ‘for a quality 40-minute TV drama production, a minimum budget of Tk 10,00,000 is needed, otherwise its artistic quality decreases.’
Hasan also mentioned that the TV channels have to follow the government guidelines set to cover all age range of audiences. ‘As a result, the scope for diversified contents becomes somewhat limited here,’ he said.
‘Unlike the TV channels, the OTT platforms attract more investment as they do not have any such guidelines and enjoy much more freedom in content creation, which, in turn, enjoys a much larger audience base generating more revenues,’ said Hasan.
He proposed that the TV channels should focus on the TV serials instead of single plays to attract more audiences, because a huge number of audiences is watching quality drama serials produced by the local and international TV channels.
Mohammad Ali Haider, head of content at Bongo BD, said that on the OTT platforms most of the content audiences watched with subscription fees, which created pressure on the platforms to maintain the quality of contents.
‘To attract the audience, the OTT contents apply special treatments of filming and detailed arrangements with professional casts and crew that increases the production costs. These are the reasons for the higher budgets for OTT contents,’ said Ali Haider.
A 40-minute drama for the subscription category needs a minimum Tk 30,00,000 while the subscription-free category needs Tk 5,00,000, he said.
‘OTT platforms offer diverse contents, including short films, dramas, mini-series, serials, films, music video, and dubbed programmes from different language, for the audience, which offers freedom for the audience as well as the content makers,’ said Ali Haider, adding that the audience looked for quality contents on the global platforms so the country’s OTT platforms had to ensure the quality production.
MA Aslam Molla 01 March, 2025, 01:08
The production of teleplays and drama serials for television channels is suffering due to lack of budget amid a rise of over-the-top platforms.
Such mass entertainment productions for the purposes of festivals or national days only get somewhat higher budget, industry insiders said.
‘A quality teleplay needs minimum four to six days of shooting involving production costs and casts, but the television channels offer maximum Tk 2,00,000 for a 40-minitue production,’ said former Director’s Guild general secretary SM Kamruzzaman Sagor, adding that the TV channels raised budgets only for productions aimed at festival days, including Eid, Valentine’s Day and national days.
The low-cost productions, even the special productions of the TV channels, cannot compete with the productions by OTT platforms due to lack of budget, said Kamruzzaman.
Young director and scriptwriter Preety Dutta said that a lot of TV channels created possibilities of works.
‘Now the TV channels maintain social media, including YouTube, Instagram and Facebook commercially so the budget for the regular television drama is higher now than that in the past two or three years,’ said Preety, adding that the budget depended on actors.
The TV channels allocate a healthy budget for the Eid teleplays, said Preety, adding that due to the recent political unrests, the TV channels decreased the budget for the forthcoming Eid teleplays.
Producers and directors with casts and crew members work as a team as the TV channels need quality productions with a lot of terms and conditions, as the TV productions are made for common audiences, added Preety, who is aiming to work for the OTT platforms where directors get financial and artistic freedom for the story’s demand.
Director Hasan Rezaul said that the regular portion of the television programme for drama was decreasing.
Due to the recent political unrests in the country, the TV channels also decreased the budget for the forthcoming Eid special dramas, said Hasan, adding ‘for a quality 40-minute TV drama production, a minimum budget of Tk 10,00,000 is needed, otherwise its artistic quality decreases.’
Hasan also mentioned that the TV channels have to follow the government guidelines set to cover all age range of audiences. ‘As a result, the scope for diversified contents becomes somewhat limited here,’ he said.
‘Unlike the TV channels, the OTT platforms attract more investment as they do not have any such guidelines and enjoy much more freedom in content creation, which, in turn, enjoys a much larger audience base generating more revenues,’ said Hasan.
He proposed that the TV channels should focus on the TV serials instead of single plays to attract more audiences, because a huge number of audiences is watching quality drama serials produced by the local and international TV channels.
Mohammad Ali Haider, head of content at Bongo BD, said that on the OTT platforms most of the content audiences watched with subscription fees, which created pressure on the platforms to maintain the quality of contents.
‘To attract the audience, the OTT contents apply special treatments of filming and detailed arrangements with professional casts and crew that increases the production costs. These are the reasons for the higher budgets for OTT contents,’ said Ali Haider.
A 40-minute drama for the subscription category needs a minimum Tk 30,00,000 while the subscription-free category needs Tk 5,00,000, he said.
‘OTT platforms offer diverse contents, including short films, dramas, mini-series, serials, films, music video, and dubbed programmes from different language, for the audience, which offers freedom for the audience as well as the content makers,’ said Ali Haider, adding that the audience looked for quality contents on the global platforms so the country’s OTT platforms had to ensure the quality production.
