Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and Jio’s new rival, promises to change the rules of game. Amazon Prime Video’s unlimited ads free and on‐demand services come for an annual subscription of INR499 versus Netflix’s INR500 (basic pack) per month. This works out to ~INR42/month. Jio under Welcome offer is offering massive Local and International Content [Jio Cinemas and Jio TV with 412 different Channels streamed 24/7] absolutely for FREE and pricing will be anybody’s guess. Amazon Prime Video is bundled with Amazon Prime (offers shipping discounts, etc). Also, existing subscribers of Amazon Prime can access video streaming at no extra cost.
Amazon Prime Video will also participate in IPL bidding, which if it wins, will help in customer acquisition. However, Amazon Prime Video lags Netflix in terms of original content (Narcos, Orange Is The New Back, Jessica Jones, House of Cards in Netflix versus Transparent, Good Girls Revolt, Mozart in the Jungle in Amazon Prime Video). Hotstar, Star’s OTT platform, too offers its premium content at INR199/month.
Eros which entered the OTT space offering its own content first and now licensing from others has managed to garner 1.1 Million Paid subscribers. YouTube which hasn’t been able to successfully monetize by subscriptions remains the most popular platform amongst Video OTT Apps / Platform.
OTT comes with its share of hurdles in India – Broadband Connectivity and Speed along with affordability being the biggest obstacle. OTT will be an additional revenue stream for broadcasters like ZEE, Sun TV and TV18. Further, we believe OTT will have limited impact on DTH/cable TV players as: (1) local content is still limited; (2) pirated/free content is easily available; (3) consumption of video on second screen will rise; and (4) consumer spending on video viewing will increase.