Ekta Kapoor built her own OTT app. Now she's betting on YouTube
Daybreak
The episode details Ekta Kapoor's strategic pivot from her failed subscription streaming service, Alt Balaji, to a new distribution model on
Key takeaways
- Alt Balaji was shut down after years of losses and a government ban due to obscene content.
- Ekta Kapoor is launching five new 4K premium shows on YouTube for free to target 'comfort viewing' audiences.
Main topics
- The decline of Alt Balaji
- YouTube vs Netflix competition
Notable quotes
They're all going to be shot in 4K, they're all going to be premium, and all of them are going to be free to watch on YouTube.
Conclusion
Kapoor's move represents a significant shift in content distribution,
Transcript preview
Speaker 1 (0:00) In the early 2000s, every weekday at 10.30pm, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahooti ruled Indian TVs. And in 2001, when the show killed off a main character, nationwide protests made the show bring him back. More than a dozen women in white saris showed up at the actor's home to mourn. Other viewers actually pelted stones at the Balaji Telefilm's office in Mumbai. And within 10 days, Ekta Kapoor, the producer of the show, brought the character back. And in true soap opera fashion, with amnesia. The episode with his return was watched by one in every five TV screens that were being measured in the country. That's the kind of hold Kapoor and her production house had over Indian audiences. And as people slowly started moving from TV screens to phone screens and streaming, Balaji followed them with its own app. In 2017, it launched Alt Balaji, later renamed to just Alt. Eight years later now though, that app is gone. It had actually been losing money for years and the final nail in the coffin came last year when the government banned it along with 24 other apps for obscene content. Kapoor and her family actually distanced themselves from the app by saying that they'd ended their association with it all the way back in 2021. And now, India's queen of TV soaps has a new plan to meet viewers where they're at. Early this month, Balaji announced five new shows with a combined 200 episodes premiering over this festive season. They're all going to be shot in 4K, they're all going to be premium, and all of them are going to be free to watch on YouTube. That's when Banaji already has a multi-year deal with Netflix. So why are these new shows going to be free and why on YouTube? Well, part of the answer could be the tough spot that Netflix is currently in. Twice in less than a week this month, two major Wall Street banks warned investors to be cautious about betting on Netflix. Both Wells Fargo and HSBC said the same thing. That Netflix hasn't had any big hits recently and YouTube has been taking over TV screens. Recent US data from a Nielsen study showed that YouTube captured a record 14.2 % of TV viewing. Netflix captured only a little more than half that at 7.8 % which was actually less than the 8.8 % it had last year. In India meanwhile, viewers are returning to TV screens. The connected TV audience here grew from about 130 million in 2025 to over 200 million in 2026. And according to Comscore data from the last two years, YouTube is the platform with the most reach on these TVs. So this time, Ekta Kapoor is betting on following this audience because she thinks she knows exactly who they are and what they want. Speaker 1 (3:05) Welcome to Daybreak, a business podcast from the can. I'm your host, Chitra Virgis. And every day of the week, my co-host, Nita Sharma and I will bring you one news story that is worth understanding and worth your time. Today is Wednesday, the 30th of September. Speaker 1 (3:33) So who is Kapoor making this shift for? She explained the case for the partnership in a recent Variety report. She said that there's an audience that no