Karan Mehra Says OTT & TV Aren’t Rivals, Micro-dramas Cater To Different Generation

Actor Karan Mehra, who became a household name as Naitik Singhania in Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, believes the debate around OTT killing television misses the point. According to him, the two mediums are built for different audiences and serve different viewing habits.

Speaking about his recent experience with micro-dramas or verticals, Mehra said the format is fundamentally distinct from television. "People keep saying OTT is taking over television, but that's not really what's happening. OTT and TV aren't competing for the same thing in the same way. They operate on different wavelengths and speak to different audiences altogether," he said.

The actor, who played the idealistic and soft-spoken Singhania son on the Star Plus show from 2009 to 2016, explained that micro-dramas are designed for quick, high-intensity viewing. "They're fast, intense, and built for short attention spans, with scripts and narratives that feel worlds apart from what you get on TV. The stories are compressed, the scripts are tighter, and the emotional beats come one after another without much breathing room. It's a different grammar of storytelling," he said.

Mehra pointed out that television still holds its own space due to the viewing culture it has built over years. "There's a viewing culture that exists around TV where you can follow a show, a story, or a set of characters for two or three years. That habit of sticking with something over a long period hasn't disappeared. People still want that kind of sustained narrative and familiarity," he added.

The actor feels that younger audiences are naturally gravitating toward the vertical format because it aligns with how they consume content today. "Given that, I think it's clear the new-age generation is the one that will naturally prefer watching micro-dramas. The format matches their rhythm, their consumption habits, and the way they've grown up engaging with content on their phones," he said.

However, he was clear that this shift doesn't signal the end of television. "But that doesn't mean TV is obsolete. It just means we now have parallel mediums serving parallel audiences, and both can coexist because they're meeting different needs," Mehra said.

Beyond Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, Mehra has been seen in shows like Khatmal E Ishq, Shubharambh, and Mehndi Wala Ghar. He also entered the Bigg Boss 10 house as a contestant in 2016.