Smytten PulseAI’s OTT Talent Tracker shows OTT audiences backing credible performers over the biggest names
Mar 27: India’s OTT pecking order is no longer mirroring theatrical stardom. A new study by Smytten PulseAI finds that when it comes to streaming, the biggest names are not always the strongest subscription drivers. Instead, actors who enjoy deeper audience trust are increasingly emerging as the real value creators for OTT platforms.
Smytten PulseAI today launched its OTT Talent Tracker, a nationwide study that evaluates leading film actors across India on three key parameters: Total Awareness, Intent to Watch, and Subscribe to Watch. The findings show that India’s streaming economy is increasingly separating fame from paid audience commitment. In the North, Salman Khan has the highest top-of-mind awareness at 22.8%, but records 49.3% subscription intent. In contrast, Manoj Bajpayee, with just 0.7% recall, delivers 56.8% Subscribe to Watch and a 96% conversion rate from watch intent to paid commitment, the highest in the entire study. In the South, Samantha Ruth Prabhu tops the composite OTT ranking with a score of 69, ahead of Vijay, Prabhas, Jr NTR, and Mahesh Babu, with a significantly tighter fame-to-subscription gap than her male peers.
The trend is visible across regions and genders: subscription pull is increasingly decoupled from fame. In India’s OTT economy, trust is beginning to outperform recognition, with clear implications for how platforms, studios, and advertisers evaluate talent.
Star Visibility and Subscription Pull Tell Two Different Stories
Across both regions, awareness does not always translate into subscription behaviour. In the North, especially, actors who may not dominate mass recall are consistently outperforming bigger stars on the metric that matters most to platforms: paid intent.
- Manoj Bajpayee: 56.8% Subscribe to Watch, 96% conversion rate from watch intent to paid, against 0.7% top-of-mind recall
- Ayushmann Khurrana: 55% subscription intent, near-zero spontaneous recall
- Pankaj Tripathi: 54.5% subscription pull, 1.9% top-of-mind awareness
- Salman Khan: 22.8% top-of-mind awareness, the highest in the North dataset, yet 49.3% subscription intent
This gap is equally striking at an aggregate level. The North’s leading mass stars differ by 16.1 percentage points in awareness, yet by less than 5 points in subscription intent. In the South, Dulquer Salmaan with 71% awareness and 60% Subscribe to Watch outperforms both Vijay at 85% awareness and 58% Subscribe to Watch and Prabhas at 83% awareness and 55% Subscribe to Watch on paid pull.
South OTT Star Power Ranking Surfaces a New Streaming Hierarchy
The composite OTT Star Power ranking for South India is led by Samantha Ruth Prabhu with a score of 69, placing her ahead of Vijay, Prabhas, Jr NTR, and Mahesh Babu.
- Samantha Ruth Prabhu: Composite score 69
- Fame-to-subscription gap: 13 points
- Vijay’s fame-to-subscription gap: 27 points
- Prabhas’s fame-to-subscription gap: 28 points
The top seven actors in the South fall within a 7-point score band, compared with an 18-point spread in the North. This makes the South a highly competitive OTT ecosystem, where audience trust, not just theatrical scale, plays a defining role in who leads.
Female Actors Show Stronger OTT Engagement in the South than in the North
The study also points to a strong showing by female actors, particularly in South India.
- Female actors account for 40% of the top 10 OTT positions in South India
- This is double the 20% share in the North
- Samantha Ruth Prabhu leads the South composite chart
- Sai Pallavi (64), Rashmika Mandanna (63), and Nayanthara (60) are all in the South’s top 10
- In the North, Alia Bhatt records 55.4% subscription pull and a 94% conversion rate from watch intent to paid behaviour, among the highest in the study
Across both regions, female-led content continues to emerge as one of the strongest subscription drivers on the leaderboard.
Actors With Low Visibility Are Emerging as High-Value Subscription Drivers
The study identifies a distinct set of Silent OTT Power Players — performers whose subscription pull significantly outpaces their mainstream visibility.
North India:
- Kay Kay Menon: ~0% top-of-mind recall, 53.7% Subscribe to Watch
- Nawazuddin Siddiqui: ~0% top-of-mind recall, 52.3% Subscribe to Watch
- Ayushmann Khurrana: ~0% top-of-mind recall, 55% subscription intent
South India:
- Tovino Thomas: 52% awareness, 49% Subscribe to Watch
- Fahadh Faasil: Composite #8 in South overall ranking
- Aishwarya Rajesh: 48% awareness, 46.7% Subscribe to Watch
- Ashok Selvan: 45% awareness, 44% Subscribe to Watch
- Aparna Balamurali: 41% awareness, 42% Subscribe to Watch
These names indicate that OTT audiences are making more deliberate, content-first choices, and not simply following the loudest or most visible stars.
Four Distinct OTT Talent Archetypes Emerge From the Data
The study maps actors across four quadrants of awareness and subscription pull, with each quadrant representing a different commercial role in the streaming economy.
Awareness vs Subscription Pull: North OTT
Awareness vs Subscription Pull: South OTT
North and South India Operate on Distinct OTT Audience Behaviours
The report also shows that North and South India are functioning as very different OTT markets.
- South audiences average ~76% awareness of their top stars versus ~64% in the North
- However, South audiences convert that recognition into subscription intent less efficiently
- South viewers use an average of 4 OTT platforms, compared with 3 in the North
In the South, the platform ecosystem is more fragmented:
- Netflix: 77%
- Prime Video: 76%
- Jio Hotstar: 70%
- Zee5: 46%
- Sun NXT: 42%
- Aha: 31%
In a wider, more fragmented ecosystem, star power has to work harder across multiple platforms. As a result, the South market is being shaped by ecosystem logic, while North India’s relatively more concentrated platform mix tends to reward credibility-first performers more directly.
Implications for OTT Platforms, Studios, and Advertisers
As India’s streaming platforms move from a high-growth phase to a more mature market, subscriber acquisition and retention become central to long-term sustainability. The study raises three important questions for decision-makers:
- Are casting investments being evaluated against subscription impact, or still primarily against awareness and social visibility?
- Do talent valuation frameworks account for conversion efficiency, including the difference between a 96% and a 76% conversion rate, as a measurable commercial variable?
- Are content strategies for North and South India reflecting the distinct audience behaviours, gender dynamics, and platform fragmentation patterns that this data reveals?
About the Study
The findings are based on two structured quantitative online surveys covering North and South India, with a combined sample of 5000 respondents aged 18–55 years and an equal gender split. The North study spanned 14 states, including Delhi, Maharashtra, and Punjab, while the South covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh. A total of 86 actors and actresses were evaluated across both studies on three key metrics: total awareness, intent to watch, and willingness to subscribe, with subscription intent carrying the highest weight in the composite index.
Disclaimer:
The findings are based on Smytten PulseAI’s OTT Talent Tracker survey and reflect indicative audience trends. They are subject to sample and regional limitations. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any decisions or interpretations made based on this information.
