OTT Media Streaming in COVID-19 Lockdown: The Indian Experience

In light of the current ecosystem of technological advancements in telecommunication and enhanced capability of devices, the present work brings to the fore the changes in consumers’ media consumption. The shift from conventional media to over-the-top (OTT) media, particularly in the lockdown period due to the COVID-19, has resulted in a war between streaming service providers to attract and retain customers. In the light of this change, the present study conducts partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis to examine the impact of two key antecedents, namely, customer engagement (CE) and quality of service experience (QoSE) for their impact on users’ willingness to continue and subscribe (WCS) streaming services in future. The paper also delves into the indirect role of satisfaction and habit in affecting the aforesaid linkages. With the world facing the impact of the pandemic, the implications emerging from the study present an opportunity to the providers of OTT platforms to capitalize on the perceived change to the best of their advantage.

PurposeThis study aims to understand the socio-cultural context of Indian women's high-tech entrepreneurial experience. Despite a small proportion of women entrepreneurs, and the traditional gender dynamics among the educated middle-classes that appears to be antithetical to female entrepreneurship; women-led high-tech start-ups are on the rise.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with women founders at an academic incubator in an elite Indian Institute of Technology. The study was based on the post-structural feminist approach that women entrepreneurs are embedded in their socio-cultural and institutional context. During data collection, the Coronavirus lockdown provided a natural experiment, highlighting entrepreneurial response to unforeseen obstacles.FindingsIt finds that the context is significant in constructing opportunity, and in navigating challenges of gender and entrepreneurship. Further, in the process of construction of an entrepreneurial identity, women innovators not only reproduce, but also modify their context. Also, the experiences with academic incubator indicate positive results both for gender dynamics and enhancing an emergent entrepreneurial culture.Practical implicationsThe study highlights that women's high-tech entrepreneurship has considerable potential for enhancing women's status in society through the support of academic incubator. This has certain implications for policy.Originality/valueIt provides an insight in to the hitherto neglected issue of women's high-tech entrepreneurship in India, and argues that a study of “social embeddedness” not only highlights constraints for women entrepreneurs unique to that context, but also the potential of women's entrepreneurship in advancing women's agency and gender equality.