After Bollywood, correction phase begins for Southern films as streamers slash film acquisition price by 50-60%

The correction in film acquisition prices that began in Bollywood has now hit the southern industries, with streaming platforms in the past two to three months slashing acquisition prices for mid-budget rooted films by 50–60% and cutting their monthly buying quotas across all four southern languages, according to syndicate content dealmakers, producers, entertainment analysts and independent streaming consultants who spoke to ET.

One of the key reasons for this correction phase in the film acquisition price is the increasing practice of southern producers to over quote or present inflated film budgets to streaming platforms.

“Producers of mid-budget southern films had been selling digital rights to streamers by over quoting their film budgets and pitting one platform against another even during the shooting period. But in the past two to three months, things have changed. Streaming platforms have reduced their acquisition price of mid-sized southern films by 50-60%,” shared Arun Kumar, a Chennai-based content deal syndicator who works across streaming platforms and TV channels.

Trade analysts based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu pointed out that streaming platforms are recalibrating their film acquisition price of even big stars or A-list actors.

“Streamers earlier paid Rs 100–120 crore for an A-list southern star’s film, but in the past few months even big-star titles are selling for just Rs 50–60 crore,” said Ramesh Bala, a Chennai-based entertainment analyst.

Poor performance of mid-budget regional films is another factor which has led to recalibration of film acquisition price.

“Increasingly, many mid-budget southern films are failing at the box office, and streamers have seen that these titles also don’t perform on their platforms or bring in incremental subscribers,” said Shrirang Nargund, an independent consultant specialising in the streaming business.Mid-budget films such as Identity (Malayalam), Robinhood (Telugu), Ekka (Kannada) and Gangers (Tamil) released in 2025 have failed to work at the box office.

A mid-budget southern film is made in a budget range of Rs2.5 crore-Rs30 crore.

Given this, streamers have reduced their film-buying quota.

“Today, streamers are buying one film from each of the four languages in a month from four from each language earlier,” shared sector analyst Ramesh Bala from Chennai.

Increasing focus of streamers on originals has also led to correction in film acquisition price.

Recently, one of the largest streamers in India, Netflix, set up an office in Hyderabad for post-production works of its regional and global films.

At present, the total OTT non-sports content budget in India is estimated to be close to Rs6000 crore of which 50% is for originals. In the originals budget, the share of regional originals is estimated to rise to 50% from 35-40% at present.

“Yes, like Bollywood, a correction phase has begun for southern films. Earlier streamers paid a huge price. A realistic picture has developed recently. It is a demand-supply dynamics. So, instead of buying a large film, streamers may buy four mid-films at realistic prices,” explained Naveen Chandra, founder, 91 Film Studios, a studio that produces and distributes regional films.

Streamers are also shifting focus to other assets, particularly sports, resulting in a relatively lower emphasis on acquiring mid-budget southern films.