Indian regional streaming platforms Aha and Hoichoi suffered technical outage yesterday due to excessive online traffic.
Hoichoi, a platform exclusively for Bengali content, announced the news on Twitter:
While the country is in lockdown to curb the number of coronavirus cases, the rise in the viewership of digital content was inevitable. Viewers across the country have no choice but to keep themselves entertained (and sane) during this lockdown.
The telecom officials in many countries including India had instructed the major OTT platforms to lower their streaming resolutions and bitrates in an effort to lessen the load on the internet.
OTT Platforms including Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, ZEE5 and ALTBalaji reacted immediately and reduced the video quality as a prudent measure.
On the other hand, smaller regional streaming platforms like Aha and Hoichoi failed to manage the unprecedented online traffic on their platforms causing a technical interruption.
Following this, Hoichoi has now decided to adhere to the instruction of COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India).
The Co-founder of the platform, Vishnu Mohta said in a statement:
Careful monitoring is being done in every step of the way so we can do our bit during these tough times. While we welcome the 4x spike in traffic we are gaining from users for our content, it is essential to also remember that requisite actions should be taken to not overburden our network providers & telecom partners.
Many streaming platforms have also released free content for the viewers to urge them to #StayHome and #StaySafe.
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