New Delhi, Oct. 20 -- Despite India's OTT audience remaining male-skewed, with men accounting for 60% of viewers, female-led web originals are gradually gaining ground in the battle for buzz and viewership.

While the first wave of popular Hindi streaming franchises was largely male-centric, with shows such as Sacred Games, Mirzapur and Paatal Lok breaking out, data from media consulting firm Ormax shows that series headlined by female protagonists generated 47% higher peak buzz than those led by male protagonists over the past few months. Prominent series contributing to this higher peak buzz include Mrs. Deshpande, Chiraiya, Mandala Murders, Dabba Cartel, Daldal, Khauf and Search: The Naina Murder Case.

Supply gap

One major reason for...