Netflix, the video streaming pioneer, on Wednesday said it was testing a Rs 250 ($3.63) monthly subscription for mobile devices in India, where data plans are among the cheapest in the world.
Netflix, for its Indian subscribers - which account for over 50 lakh subscribers, already has a monthly plan of Rs 500, Rs 650 and Rs 800, allowing users to watch on one, two and four screens at the same time. Netflix offers an array of original Indian series to the domestic customers, which includes crime thriller "Sacred Games" and "Delhi Crime" with A-list Bollywood actors.
However, Netflix has two main contenders against it in India - Walt Disney Co.'s Hotstar and Amazon's Prime Video, which has garnered a favourable viewership in the last few years.
Hotstar premium, which has exclusive rights for telecasting the Indian Premier League as well as the recently ended ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, is available for Rs 199 per month.
Amazon's video streaming service, part of the Prime subscription on the e-commerce website, has a monthly subscription of Rs 129. Both the over-the-top (OTT) service providers have a subscription charge of Rs 999 per year.
In a survey conducted by Velocity MR, a market research and analysis company, Amazon Prime emerged as the most-watched OTT video streaming platform with 70 percent respondents claiming to watch regularly at least once a week, followed by
Netflix with 56 percent and Hotstar with 50 percent, a report published by Inc42 said. While these three have emerged as major players in the Indian OTT market, other video streaming services like Viacom 18-owned Voot, Eros Digital-owned Eros Now, Ekta Kapoor’s ALTBalaji, Contagious Online Media-owned TVF Play, among others are also in the competition.
Here are the monthly/yearly charges for the Indian OTT services:
Netflix:
Monthly plans of Rs 500, Rs 650, Rs 800 allowing users to watch on one, two and four screens at the same time.
(Yet to be announced) Rs 250 monthly subscription for mobile devices.Amazon Prime:
Monthly subscription of Rs 129 and a yearly subscription of Rs 999.Hotstar:
Monthly subscription of Rs 199 and a yearly subscription of Rs 999.Voot:
No subscription charges.ErosNow:
Eros Now Plus; Monthly: Rs 49 | Yearly: Rs 470.
Eros Now Premium; Monthly: Rs 99| Yearly: Rs 950.ALTBalaji:
A three-month subscription of Rs 100 and a yearly subscription for Rs 300.TVF Play:
No subscription charges.Sony LIV:
Monthly subscription of Rs 99 and a yearly subscription of Rs 499.Disclosure: Voot is part of Viacom 18 Digital Ventures, the digital arm of Viacom 18 which is a joint venture of TV18 and Viacom Inc.
First Published: Jul 18, 2019 1:52 PM IST
