Bangladesh’s OTT boom once promised a golden age for local storytelling. Now, the plot is taking a darker turn.
Making shows costs more, convincing viewers to pay is getting harder, and platforms are commissioning fewer originals. With fewer fresh stories to keep audiences hooked, subscribers have less reason to stay, threatening the industry that flourished during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The slowdown is visible in the numbers. During this year’s Eid-ul-Azha, local platforms released just two new web films and no series. Chorki, which released 27 titles in 2025, now produces around 20–22 a year, according to chief executive Redwan Rony.
A Times of Bangladesh review found that Hoichoi Bangladesh released just three originals in 2025, its lowest output in the country. Binge and Toffee also had limited releases, while iScreen maintained a broader mix of originals, theatrical films, live events and sports.
Director Tanim Noor says the market has been sluggish for two years despite its rapid pandemic-era expansion.
“Platforms are not moving ahead with new projects as they did before. Their situation is not very good. If you look at the industry as a whole, the OTT market has been somewhat sluggish for the past two years,” he said.
The first problem is production costs. A full-length Bangladeshi series typically costs Tk1–2 crore, while a production such as Squid Game can cost hundreds of crores. Rising costs, inflation and political and economic instability have added pressure.
Each series is a financial gamble: platforms invest before knowing whether subscriptions and viewership will recover the expense. As risks rise, fewer projects get commissioned and fresh content becomes scarcer.
The second problem is subscriber loyalty. Bangladesh’s OTT market is estimated to be worth Tk300–500 crore annually, with projected growth of 20–25 per cent. Users could exceed one crore by the end of 2026, although these remain industry estimates.
A large potential audience, however, does not guarantee enough paying subscribers to finance regular productions.
Chorki’s 17 wins out of 23 categories at last year’s Blenders Choice–The Daily Star OTT Awards, held on 7 September, show local productions can compete on quality. Yet viewers complain about buffering, app crashes, weak search functions and irregular releases.
Office worker Md Tahmid said international platforms offer an almost endless supply of content. “But local platforms cannot provide content regularly. And what they do offer is not always of good quality,” he said.
Price makes the competition tougher. Chorki offers a three-month package for Tk289; Hoichoi’s annual plans cost around Tk999; Bongo’s premium service starts at Tk99 monthly; and Toffee offers a 30-day pass for Tk149. Bioscope Plus provides access to nine platforms for Tk249.
Netflix’s premium plan costs around Tk1,200–1,250 a month, but third-party sellers advertise shared Netflix access for around Tk250 and Prime Video subscriptions for Tk120–200.
Viewers told TIMES shared accounts let them access international services for Tk200–300 monthly, although prices and conditions vary. For viewers on tight budgets, a similarly priced shared account may offer a much larger international library.
Local platforms still have an advantage in exclusive Bangladeshi content. Bioscope works with Grameenphone and Binge is linked to Robi; mobile-balance payments and broadband bundles also ease access.
But convenience and low prices cannot compensate for thin catalogues, irregular releases or technical problems.
The third problem is the rising cost of doing business. The 2025–26 national budget introduced a 10 per cent supplementary duty on OTT services, alongside 15 per cent VAT and 2 per cent advance income tax.
Industry calculations suggest a Tk100 subscription now costs Tk126.50, up from Tk115.
Rony says platforms must pay the 10 per cent duty on all income. With PayPal unavailable in Bangladesh, international payments go through third parties, he says, pushing the cost of a Tk1 crore project to Tk1.27 crore.
He argues local platforms are fighting for survival without government support.
Some producers are seeking cinema revenue. Rony says Chorki plans two theatrical releases over three years. But director Himel Ashraf told TIMES that a country of 180–200 million people has only 30–40 cinemas, against a required 150–200.
“If things continue like this, the future of the industry will be very bad,” he warned.
The squeeze is global, too. On 9 October, Reuters reported that Netflix planned to cut about 5 per cent of its workforce, citing Puck News. Netflix declined to comment.
With around 16,000 full-time employees at the end of 2025, the cuts could affect roughly 800 jobs. Reuters pointed to intensifying competition, media consolidation and YouTube’s growing share of viewing and advertising spending.
The reported cuts do not necessarily signal financial trouble, but they underline the global fight to control costs.
Bangladesh’s OTT industry faces a vicious cycle: rising costs mean fewer releases, fewer releases weaken subscriber loyalty, and weaker loyalty makes new investment harder to justify. In trying to save money, platforms risk cutting the very content that keeps viewers watching.
