Netflix to stream dating show ‘IRL’ on 6 April

New Delhi: Netflix, the American streaming platform, has announced that its dating reality show IRL:In Real Love will premiere on 6 April. Produced by content and brand communications studio Monozygotic, IRL:In Real Love will add to titles already available on the platform like Indian Matchmaking, Love is Blind and Too Hot to Handle amongst others that also focus on love, dating and finding the right partner.

In 2020, the Reed Hastings-owned platform had produced What the Love! With Karan Johar where the celebrity filmmaker played matchmaker for singletons looking for love. In 2018, rival Amazon Prime Video had brought out Hear Me. Love Me based on the concept of blind dating, hosted by Shilpa Shetty.

Even as fiction properties, both web shows and movies, dominate video-on-demand (VoD) screens, a bunch of streaming platforms and content creators are increasingly laying their bets on non-fiction, local Indian content.

With the success of Bigg Boss and Shark Tank on Voot and SonyLIV, respectively, a growing number of streaming services are tapping the non-fiction genre to widen their audience base. They are drawing viewers through original non-fiction shows as well as by onboarding reality shows appearing on TV channels on to digital platforms.

Sony’s Shark Tank India and Viacom18’s Bigg Boss had notched impressive viewership online, aided by exhaustive marketing campaigns.

ALTBalaji and MX Player had come up with Kangana Ranaut’s Lock Upp that had garnered significant viewership. Viacom18 also had a comedy game show The Khatra Khatra Show that premiered on its OTT platform Voot ahead of television.

Media industry experts said non-fiction could see newer formats on streaming platforms and marquee properties could draw audiences sitting on the fence to subscribe to these services.

“With the rise of streaming services, audiences today have the opportunity to enjoy undeniably authentic and diverse stories across formats from around the world. Our non-fiction content offers an opportunity for viewers to experience and examine new cultures and ideas,“ a Netflix spokesperson had said in an earlier interview, and added that in India, the service is innovating with formats across comedy, reality and documentaries.