New Delhi, Jan. 7 -- As India's OTT growth shows signs of plateauing beyond large cities, streaming platforms are turning their attention south.

Netflix and JioHotstar have both announced an aggressive push into southern-language originals, betting that premium local stories can revive subscriber growth and engagement.

Industry experts say southern audiences-already accustomed to dubbed films and theatrical releases on streaming platforms-represent the next growth frontier. High-quality web originals in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada could help OTT platforms move beyond metros, where penetration has largely stagnated.

According to a report by media consulting firm Ormax, India's OTT audience universe is now estimated at 601.2 mil...