Bigg Boss OTT Discontinued Permanently, Makers Confirm No Fourth Season
The makers of Bigg Boss OTT have officially pulled the plug on the digital-only format, with creator Rishi Negi confirming that the Hindi version of Bigg Boss will now stream simultaneously on TV and OTT, making a separate OTT edition redundant.
Big news is emerging regarding Bigg Boss OTT. According to reports, the fourth season of Bigg Boss OTT will no longer air. The OTT version of the reality show has been permanently discontinued. Such speculation had been circulating for quite some time, but now the show's creator, Rishi Negi, has confirmed it.
In a conversation with Screen, Rishi said, "We went digital with the Hindi version last year. The show first released on Jio Hotstar, then came to TV. I think we have to follow the same cycle. We simulcast in other languages. I believe there's a huge market for OTT and TV. The audience is different. They prefer watching shows on TV. My mother only watches Bigg Boss on TV. There are many people who watch the show by appointment. This gives us a diverse audience." According to sources, the makers believe there's no need to run two versions of Bigg Boss Hindi. Because the format of both shows is almost the same, only the telecast was different. Now that the main Bigg Boss is streaming on both OTT and TV, it doesn't make sense to run a separate OTT version. Because Colors TV and Jio Hotstar are brands in their own right and have strong viewership, the decision was made to discontinue the BB OTT version.
Last week, Deepak Dhar of production company Banijay Asia announced plans to bring Bhojpuri and Punjabi versions of Bigg Boss. The makers are bringing a Bengali version this year. Rishi said, "We currently run Bigg Boss in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Marathi. This year, the show is being expanded. We're bringing Bigg Boss Bangla. Our goal is to reach micro-markets. We want to increase our footprint. This will help the show gain good views." Rishi hasn't revealed the name of the host of Bigg Boss Bangla yet, but he did hint that the host is famous on a pan-India level.
The OTT version of Bigg Boss launched in 2021. It was hosted by Karan Johar. Divya Agarwal became the winner of the show. The second season was hosted by Salman Khan, and Elvish Yadav won it. This season was a blockbuster. The third version of the reality show was hosted by Anil Kapoor, and Sana Maqbool won the trophy.