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Tag: Disney+Hotstar

  • OTT platforms go beyond entertainment to score consumers

    OTT platforms go beyond entertainment to score consumers

    KOLKATA: Over-the-top (OTT) platforms have come a long way in the country now. Around 2015, these services were mere apps to catch up on favourite television shows and stream live sporting events. Cut to 2020 and the discussion has evolved to whether OTT is a threat to TV. After a transition from catch-up content to premium originals, homegrown OTT platforms are now heading in the direction of being a one-stop shop. 

    In the last few months, many OTT platforms have enhanced their content catalogue, delving into segments like education and gaming. At the beginning of the year, ZEE5 announced a partnership with Eduauraa. Later, more players like VOOT also took the ed-tech road especially during lockdown thanks to the online learning boom. 

    While streaming services were already bullish about ed-tech and gaming, the lockdown period pushed them into health and fitness content, accelerating the next transition of those players. Disney+ Hotstar forged partnerships with Brilliant Wellness, Cult.Fit and Sarva recently. Another player VOOT also partnered with Cult.Fit and Isha Foundation. 

    KPMG India media and entertainment partner and head Girish Menon says that most of the OTT players were already looking at this strategy but the post-Covid2019 change has accelerated it. 

    “Consumers have been engaging with OTT platforms in a significant manner rather than certain hours. The idea is to increase the number of hours on the app, reduce video churn and increase retention,”  Deloitte India partner Jehil Thakkar says.

    “For us, constantly enhancing and improving our catalogue is important so that our existing and new consumers constantly keep seeing something new and different on the platform,” Viacom18 AVoD business head Akash Banerji says.

    Banerji adds that merely enhancing the catalogue is of no value unless it is also relevant to customers and can drive higher engagement. Moreover, forging partnerships with premium partners is also an important aspect. “We wanted to give something more,” he sums up.

    "For any platform, offering good content is more important rather than focusing only on entertainment. The content can educate , inform, entertain consumers. While OTT space has been largely focusing on entertainment, we have to offer more to get consumers back on the platform. Everything a person can do online, we want him to do it on ZEE5," ZEE5 SVoD senior vice president and business head Rahul Maroli says.

    He also mentions that when they talk to B2B partners, the latter will partner with an entity where their customer will get entertainment, infotainment, education at the same place. Moreover, as consumer tastes evolve they start moving around new content and that leads to a stronger brand affinity.

    While both Banerji and Maroli said they want to “offer more”, they also want to get more consumers. 

    “They are definitely looking to build an offering which is more comprehensive than pure-play content. The idea is that if you have a consumer who is coming to your app for entertainment, are there other services you can provide to them which will ensure that he continues to spend time and builds on that,” KPMG’s Menon adds. According to him, these deals make sense as an extension of offering rather than starting a separate segment.

    While its an offering about consumption right now, commerce around core offering and other deals can also become the norm.  

  • Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film ‘Dil Bechara’ to debut on Disney+ Hotstar

    Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film ‘Dil Bechara’ to debut on Disney+ Hotstar

    KOLKATA: Late bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput’s last film last movie Dil Bechara is directly releasing on Disney+Hotstar on 24 July. Moreover, the movie will be available for non-subscribers as well. 

    “A story of love, hope, and endless memories.

    Celebrating the late #SushantSinghRajput's legacy that will be etched in the minds of all and cherished forever,” the streaming service tweeted. “For the love of Sushant and his love for cinema, the movie will be available to all subscribers and non-subscribers,” it added.

    The film is the official remake of 2014 Hollywood romantic drama The Fault in Our Stars, based on John Green’s popular novel of the same name.  It also marks the directorial debut of casting director and Rajput’s industry friend Mukesh Chhabra. The film is produced by Fox Star Studios. 

    Since the ongoing lockdown started due to Covid2019 pandemic, many movies have found their way to streaming services as theatres have shut down. Among others,  Gulabo Sitabo was released on Amazon Prime Video. 

  • Disney+ Hotstar ropes in Google’s Sunil Rayan as president & head

    Disney+ Hotstar ropes in Google’s Sunil Rayan as president & head

    KOLKATA: The rebranded Disney+ Hotstar service gets a new head in India. As per reports, the streaming service has appointed Sunil Rayan as the new president and head. Rayan comes from Google where he was managing director for Google Cloud for Games. Former Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan left the company in 2018.

    At Google, Rayan helped oversee product, engineering and business development strategies to help build Google Cloud for Games as managing director of the segment managing the mobile app promotion business team in 13 locations across the world. He left Google in April 2020. He also worked as associate principal at American management consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

    Rayan will be working closely with Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific president and Star and Disney India chairman Uday Shankar. As the new head, he will be leading a service which has seen major changes in content strategy, subscription model as as rebranding in last one and half year. Walt Disney's Disney+ was integrated into Hotstar in April 2020.

    “Five years ago, we set out to disrupt the way India consumed content and that mission has turned out to be totally revolutionary. Sunil is an exciting talent with global accomplishments and I am very excited to have him lead the talented Disney+ Hotstar team. At Disney+ Hotstar India, we are on a mission to create the country's largest and most advanced platform for curated content, and Sunil is just the right person to drive that ambition,” Shankar commented.

    Follow Tellychakkar for the consumer facing news & entertainment

  • OTT release of films: Theatres not to lose appeal

    OTT release of films: Theatres not to lose appeal

    MUMBAI: As theatres continue to remain closed amid the countrywide lockdown, the impact has been felt on the release of scheduled films. While many producers are waiting for theatres to reopen, some of them have chosen the OTT route to cope with the crisis. Multiplex owners are miffed at the newly emerging distribution model. Although the battle between exhibitors and producers is visible now, globally the direct-to-digital model has been coming for quite sometime. While OTT platforms stay at the centre of the controversy, they strongly endorse the co-existence of both the windows and the rest of the industry, too.

    Earlier, we at Indiantelevision.com reported that some of the producers and distributors might look at streaming platforms for an early release. Experts said that large-scale films in India will wait for this crisis to get over to have a proper theatrical release but mid-scale or small-budget films have higher chances of looking at streaming releases if lockdown continues. Unfortunately, the country is still grappling with the Covid2019 crisis and the possibility has proved to be true.

    Movies including Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Gulabo Sitabo and Vidya Balan's Shakuntala Devi have lined up for a digital release on Amazon Prime Video along with five others. Ghoomketu, featuring Anurag Kashyap and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, will be available for streaming on ZEE5. Some south Indian films are also looking at releasing on streaming services under pressure.

    “This is a ‘short-term opportunity’ in a unique situation. Eventually, theatres and OTT will have to learn to co-exist because it is the consumer mandate and we have to be where the consumer is. It is similar to a new wave of films being produced in a particular industry or when theatres had to be re-imagined from a single-screen experience to multiplexes,” ZEE5 India programming head Aparna Acharekar says. On ZEE5, movies and originals grew by more than 2X in terms of users; original grew by 203 per cent and movies by 236 per cent.

    TheSmallBigIdea CEO Harikrishnan Pillai says that direct-to-digital doesn’t give the revenue or the 'frenzy' that a theatre release gives a film. According to him, this is not a pleasant decision for a producer or an actor. But if social distancing becomes a norm, there may be decisions for hybrid launches and films of the future might release on all screens together with a unique pricing strategy, he states.

    Although the trend is very clear, analysts still believe the question remains if producers will be able to make up the cost on digital releases. Pillai adds that producers have always been selling satellites overseas and have covered a part of their cost. OTT right was a new norm that added to this revenue. According to him, with an OTT-first release, these films could command a premium but that premium won't cover the loss made by muting the biggest distribution channel, which is the theatre. So, theoretically, revenue loss is imminent.

    “But here’s the twist. When you make a film, there is a chance of it tanking at the box office. So if the film is sold outright to a platform on the back of the starcast and the perception, there is a possibility that the producers will end up hedging possible losses,” he adds.

    “Small and medium films are quickly picked up as they offer good content at a reasonable price and have value for money. For big-budget films, there is a lot of number crunching. In addition to this, producers of big films may have the patience and financial capacity to hold on but the same is not the case with smaller films. But going forward, be it smaller-budget or big-budget, the digital boom will see a lot more movies being released on OTT. And we are positive that consumer habit formation and behaviour post-pandemic will also influence this trend in a major way,” Acharekar notes.

    Pillai comments that films on OTT are also a platform for marketing and nothing sells a content distribution network the way good content does. So when a film releases on OTT, the platform stands to benefit not just from downloads but also from perception.

    “Won’t OTT platforms like to be called the next box office? But this is great for a cash-rich platform and for the early days. As time progresses, prudence will prevail. Big films with big star cast might go for models where they will have a fee and a percentage of new downloads or have a completely different pay-per-view model being developed with the OTT platform and make it the new box office window,” he adds.

    Disney was one of the first studios to foray into this new distribution model, with the streaming release of Frozen 2 on its OTT platform Disney+. However, Walt Disney Ltd CEO Bob Chapek also said in an earnings call that they very much believe in the value of the theatrical experience overall to launch blockbuster movies. But he added that they also realise that either because of changing and evolving consumer dynamics or because of certain situations like Covid2019, they may have to make some changes to that overall strategy just because theatres aren't open to the extent that anybody needs to be financially viable.

    “So we're going to evaluate each one of our movies on a case-by-case situation, as we are doing right now during this Covid2019 situation. I think you know that Artemis Fowl is moving over to Disney+ given the demographics of the appeal of that film, which was not originally the plan. But all our other tent-pole movies have been rescheduled theatrically for later in the year. So we very much believe in the power of that launch platform for our big movies,” Chapek added. Notably, reports suggest that Disney+Hotstar is in talks with big producers in India for acquiring movies.

    However, some analysts are highly optimistic about the never-ending appeal of cinema in India. “India is one of the few countries which does not have anything except cricket as an entertainment and family outing; the screen count (screen penetration) too is very less vs global counterparts given the variety of content (Hindi and regional). We, hence, believe that cinemas will be a priority if people want to go out… Multiplexes will never fall short of content given a large number of releases (almost 400 Hindi films out of a total of almost 1500 films released every year),” Elara Capital VP – research analyst (media) Karan Taurani says.

  • Star India, Disney+Hotstar join hands with Project Mumbai in Covid2019 battle

    Star India, Disney+Hotstar join hands with Project Mumbai in Covid2019 battle

    MUMBAI: When the entire world is hobbled by a never-before-seen pandemic of this scale, what the world wants is an unwavering sense of camaraderie that is rooted in humanity. In such a crisis, people and organisations, transcending all man-made restrictions, help each other so as to put up a collective fight against the Covid2019 pandemic.

    The country has already seen how the entertainment industry has come out to help those in need of succour.    

    Now, media organisations are coming to the forefront in this hour of crisis to do their bit for the health and safety of individuals who are at the forefront in their battle against the pandemic.

    Star India and Disney+Hotstar have joined hands with the NGO Project Mumbai by donating 200,000 personal protection equipment (PPE) kits to the health workers at BMC and an additional 10,000 khakhi-coloured kits for the Mumbai police.

    Mumbai, which is seeing a spike in cases with each passing day, needs the consistent support and help of non-governmental organisations in dealing with a massive crisis like this one. This is where Star India and Disney’s contribution matters. The support will help the ongoing efforts in meeting the demand for PPE kits for almost four weeks. Showcasing solidarity with the numerous medical, health, and protection warriors, the initiative seeks to equip the selfless warriors who are at the frontline, battling the pandemic.

    Project Mumbai CEO-founder Shishir Joshi told Indiantelevision.com that Uday Shankar, president of The Walt Disney Company Asia Pacific, and chairman of Star India, was very keen to extend a helping hand to help Mumbai tide over the crisis.

    “Uday Shankar was very keen to do something for Mumbai. Star has its base prominently in Mumbai. He himself has lived in Mumbai for a longer period of time. He asked us what needs to be done. We told him that doctors need to be helped out. They need PPE,” he said.   

    According to him, this is biggest contribution of its kind by a media company in India after Covid2019 has broken out. People need to come to help the city, especially given the fact that Mumbai has been seeing spike in cases.

    Project Mumbai has been at the forefront of helping the needy in these times. “We are feeding over 2,000 doctors every day. We are also feeding 70,000 homeless people,” said Shishir Joshi.

  • Disney+ reaches 54.5 mn subscribers; execs pleased with India launch

    Disney+ reaches 54.5 mn subscribers; execs pleased with India launch

    MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Company (Disney) has witnessed a sharp fall in profit as a consequence of the Covid2019 pandemic. While the giant faced widespread disruption like many other organisations, it has one card in store: the newly launched streaming service Disney+. The streaming service is seeing a fast growth in subscribers, which now stands at 54.5 million as of 4 May. It seems shelter-in-place directive has worked in its favour as the service has added 21 million subscribers in less than two months.

    Disney senior executive vice president and chief financial officer Christine M McCarthy said in an earnings call that since they continued launches in several markets between quarter end and 5 May, the subscriber number has also increased reaching 54.5 million. She also added the subscriber mix reflects the same as it did on 8 April when they announced that the service surpassed 50 million subscribers globally.

    "At our direct-to-consumer international segment, operating losses were $427 million higher due to the cost incurred for the online launch of Disney+ around the world and consolidation of Hulu. Disney+ launched in the number of European markets in the world which contributed to a total paid subscriber base of 33.5 million at the end of the quarter and we are very happy with our successful rollout in Western Europe and India where we converted our pre-existing subscription base Hotstar service to Disney+Hotstar,” she added. In India, it already accounts for approximately eight million subscribers as per numbers shared last month.

    The new Disney CEO Bob Chapek, for whom it was the first earnings, also expressed his ecstasy over the successful rollout in Western Europe and India. “We have been thrilled with the performance of Disney+. Since our initial launch in November, we have continued to expand in other markets. In late march as planned, despite Covid2019, we had an incredible launch in Western Europe followed by a highly successful launch in India,” he added. While in India it was scheduled to launch during the billion-dollar sports event IPL to exploit the Hotstar user base, it launched around scheduled time despite the suspension of the tournament.

    “The Hotstar service in India was converted to Disney+ Hotstar, resulting in approximately eight million additional Disney+ paid subscribers. In general, wholesale arrangements have a lower average monthly revenue per paid subscriber than subscribers that we acquire directly or through third party platforms like Apple. In addition, the average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for Disney+ Hotstar is significantly lower than the average monthly revenue per paid subscriber in North America and Europe,” The Walt Disney Company said in a regulatory filing.

    Disney’s overall average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for the second quarter stood at $5.63. 

    "As we will use our branded film and television content on the Disney+ service, we are forgoing certain licensing revenue from the sale of this content to third parties in TV/SVOD markets. In addition, we are increasing programming and production investments to create exclusive content for Disney+," it added in the regulatory filing.

    Chapek added that the streaming service will begin rolling out in Japan in June, followed by Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal in September and Latin America towards the end of the year. He promised that the vast collection of libraries in regional content available will continue to grow. He added that they will continue to make the planned investment that they always had into programming to drive subscription rate and retention.

  • Disney+Hotstar’s ‘Hundred’: Flawed in parts, but worth a watch

    Disney+Hotstar’s ‘Hundred’: Flawed in parts, but worth a watch

    MUMBAI: The title of the series is 'Hundred. You really don’t know what to expect from it with its poster showing a lady cop, a cheaply gaudily dressed woman and a young man in the centre, looking like a small-town dude.

    But as you dive into the Disney+Hotstar special, you get to know it is about two women and their individual journeys, their battles in their lives to be considered, to be dealt with as real people.

    One is a cop, Saumya Shukla (played very effectively by Lara Dutta), and the other is a young government census employee Netra Patil (enacted immaculately by Sairat star Rinky Rajguru). Both are stuck and stalled in their respective lives. The former by her male chauvinist commissioner boss Anshuman (Parmeet Sethi) and her ACP husband Pravin (played by Sudhanshu Pandey), both of whom, believe the place of a wife is in the home producing babies and make no bones about expressing their feelings. The latter, by a visit to the doctor, comes to know that she has tumours in the brain which have spread and she has only 100 days to live.

    Netra lives in a chawl and has a down-on-his-luck, lazy father, an ungrateful grandfather and a brother who are dependent on her as their provider. And she has a male friend (her boyfriend), another loser, who is constantly dreaming up some lame-duck-quick-buck scheme. But yet she is bubbly and buoyant prior to finding out about her ailment; she dreams of traveling to Switzerland and is movie-mad, imagines her dream lover to be Shah Rukh Khan as he is in romantic films.

    And on that note, the two rather naïve women, Saumya and Netra, bump into each other accidentally. Then begins their journey where both work as foils to each other. Saumya is career-focused and determined to be in the thick of the action, solving crime cases, rather than being sent on school assignments. She convinces Netra to live up the remaining days of her life; trying to fulfil all her dreams.  As part of this living it up, the latter hits the bottle as though she was made for it.

    The show brings out very strongly the chauvinism that possibly runs in the police force (how many Kiran Bedi has India created). The politicking that goes on in the police old-boys club, amongst those who we look up to as protectors. They have a single-minded focus: how to pull Saumya down as she successfully solves case after case, despite their opposition. Though she is given harmless assignments like managing security for visiting corrupt foreign dignitaries or attending functions where women cops are felicitated, her boss views her as police eye candy. In her mind’s eye she is that super cop, who is sharp, can solve crimes, is well connected with her network of informers – basically she is a good cop who is not getting her due.

    Running over eight episodes, Hundred keeps you engaged as it is pacey – and it gets even pacier in the last four-five episodes – though the script and characters have flaws.

    For instance: Saumya is bold enough to hold a press conference to announce how she cracked a case to the consternation of her boss, but has not guts to complain against his misogynist tendencies. Also, the writers seem to skim over some parts. For instance, in one scene Netra is shown to have been cut open by organ thieves; is rescued by Saumya, and is back on her feet in what appears like no time. Surgery takes time to recover from, does it not? What’s going on?  And when she is flouting orders, she has hordes of personnel ready to serve her at her every beck and command; I don't know if it would be possible in the real world. There are several other clichés: while Saumya is shown to be this super cop, almost everyone else in the police force – even senior policemen – is relative bumbling fools. Then there are some useless scenes which tend to drag the story: like when Maddy (played by Karan Wahi) – a struggling Haryanvi musician and Saumya’s adulterous love interest – wants to have a music video of his single shot, with the help of Netra who agrees to fund it only if she is in it. It does not take the story forward.

    If you ignore this use of creative licence and some of the writing and directorial lapses, both Rinky and Lara have put up strong performances. Though the former could have brought in better histrionics to her drunken act, whenever she has a pint too many. Lara clearly shines in those scenes where she is on the move and brings emotional energy on the screen when she is standing up for herself.

    Others who have meaty roles include Karan Wahi (as a Haryanvi struggling musicians and Saumya’s adulterous love interest), and Makarand Deshpande (as the older money launderer and the partner of Netra’s love interest Rajeev Siddhartha).

    Would we advise you to watch. Yes.

    Director: Ashutosh Shah, Taher Shabbir, Ruchi Narain,

    Creator: Ashutosh Shah, Taher Shabbir, Ruchi Narain, Abhishek Dubey

    Cast: Lara Dutta, Rinku Rajguru, Karan Wahi, Sudhanshu Pandey, Makrand Deshpande, Rajeev Siddharth, Parmeet Sethi

    Producer: Ashutosh Shah, Taher Shabbir, Ruchi Narain, Neelesh Bhatnagar

  • Is it all gloomy for independent OTT players?

    Is it all gloomy for independent OTT players?

    MUMBAI: Though everyone is ravenous to take a bite out of India's rich streaming phenomenon, it's not all hunky dory for independent players. Consumer acquisition, retention and chalking out a sustainable monetisation plan are tougher than they seem. While deep-pocketed giants may survive, the road is rocky for independent platforms. 

    The downfall of two ambitious players

    Towards the end of 2019, Hong Kong-based over-the-top (OTT) platform Viu shut down its India business. The company cited highly competitive nature and the requirement of heavy investment without a path to sustained monetisation. Viu’s downfall was followed by Singapore-based telecom company, Singtel-backed, Singapore-based HOOQ. The service, available across Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia and India, which was also backed by Warner and Sony, filed for liquidation last month in Singapore. HOOQ said in a statement that it had been unable to grow fast enough to keep up with global and regional rivals and also noted “significant structural changes” in the OTT video market in the five years since its launch.

    The statements of both Viu and HOOQ show the inability to grow a viable business model amid stiff competition. While the wave of online content started with small independent creators in the country, it's time for them to either join hands with bigger players or exit. Especially, when players like Netflix and Disney+Hotstar are earmarking billions for this market. Homegrown players are also investing highly. The sheer amount of content library, production quality along with smart UIs speak in their favour. 

    What lies ahead for independent players?

    “There is a global recession right now and these OTTs are vouching on a lot of these global fundings, private equity fundings. COVID-19 has a big impact and there will be a recession in many countries and lot of the funding activities will slow down. Because of the current crisis, if their mtrics like success rate, viewership, time spent etc., are not good, many OTTs will also shut down in near to medium term despite being well-funded. India is an extremely fragmented market. We have 35 plus OTTs causing all the more chances of many more shutting down,” Elara Capital VP – research analyst (Media) Karan Taurani says.

    SBICap Securities institutional equity research head Rajiv Sharma brings up three aspects. He talks about customer acquisition which is becoming an expensive exercise for independent OTT platforms with more serious players coming into the picture. He also adds that Netflix can amortise content produced in India in 130 markets. Broadcasters have catch-up TV content, the movies which they had acquired for the broadcasting business as a source of basic traffic for engagement.

    “Independent platforms have a small library, no access to other content or market and moreover, they are working on a small budget. Their mortality rate is high because users will watch something and delete it. So low stickiness means higher customer acquisition cost and whatever they are producing, they are not able to amortise it over a higher set of users. So per unit content cost or production cost is higher. These are the reasons we are seeing independent platforms struggling,” Sharma explains.

    Is it all gloomy for smaller and independent players?

    Platforms like ALTBalaji, Hoichoi are thriving without funding from any big network, broadcaster or tech giant. These two platforms have witnessed good uptake in users with an attractive content slate. Moreover, they have collaborated with existing rivals also to increase their reach and find an alternative source of revenue. While we tried to find what are the factors that help them to survive, both of the platforms cited the parent company’s long-term experience of producing content, hence understanding of consumer preference.

    “I think understanding of the customers is very important and having control over content is very important. Twenty five years of understanding consumers is very important because as we make a show or acquire a  movie, we exactly know what a consumer might want. We have been in the business long. It's not a question of money only. Another thing what works well for SVF is that we  have made 150 plus movies till now. We have relationships with all the producers of the business. So, when we wanted to license a movie, we could do it from every person in the industry. We had production experience, key understanding of content, relation with the industry and talents,” Hoichoi co-founder Vishnu Mohta says.

    “Being from the house of Balaji Telefilms, who have been catering to the audiences ever-changing preferences for over 25 years now, ALTBalaji has an advantage unlike no other of having a deep understanding and familiarity with the viewer’s consumption preferences. With content being our biggest differentiator, we have been catering to all kinds of audiences through our diverse content offerings spanning multiple languages. Moreover, Indian originals have picked up pace in the past few days as audiences are on the lookout for local relatable content and are spending more time online. With content being king, there is a growing acceptance amongst consumers to pay for unique narratives and good story telling which keeps them hooked to their screens,” Balaji Telefilms group COO and ALTBalaji CEO Nachiket Pantvaidya states.

    Yupp TV, another OTT platform which is tuning its business towards ed-tech direction in India, thinks that being an early mover, consolidation has helped it.YuppTV and YuppMaster founder and CEO Uday Reddy acknowledges, “ All the players who are in space are big broadcasters. They are already in the content space. They are just evolving from linear to digital. I don’t think many independent players are left now. If they don’t invest in capital, they won’t be able to sustain.”

    With the COVID-19 crisis, things are bound to change once the situation normalise.

  • Airtel launches new prepaid data pack with Disney+ Hotstar VIP subscription

    Airtel launches new prepaid data pack with Disney+ Hotstar VIP subscription

    MUMBAI: Airtel has come up with a new prepaid data pack which gives the user subscription to one year of Disney Plus Hotstar VIP. A prepaid recharge plan of Rs 401 comes bundled with the OTT platform’s subscription which also offers 3GB of high-speed data access for 28 days.  

    Airtel launches the pack at a time when OTT consumption is witnessing a very high growth across the country due to the ongoing lockdown. Airtel has listed the new pack on its
    website mentioning the subscription, and details like shows, movies, and kids content from Disney+, exclusive Hotstar Specials, and live sports.  

    Disney+ made its entry in India on 3 April 2020 in conjunction with Hotstar as the latter upgraded to Disney+ Hotstar with a fresh new look and enhanced user interface. The service already boasts of eight million subscribers, as Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and international chairman Kevin Mayer shared earlier this month.

  • Big growth in viewing in India led by originals: Netflix’s Ted Sarandos

    Big growth in viewing in India led by originals: Netflix’s Ted Sarandos

    MUMBAI: Last year, Netflix rolled out a mobile-only plan in India to suit the country's preference for smartphones over laptops. Moreover, it was a way to delve deeper into a market where its basic Rs-500-a-month subscription plan was sharply expensive compared to homegrown OTT giants. The bet got the success it hoped for and Netflix followed the footprint in other markets as well. After nearly a year, the streaming service seems satisfied in the uptake of mobile-only plans as well as its overall growth here.

    “It's a plan (mobile-only plan) that we've tested for a while and we have rolled it out now in a bunch of countries: India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. And it's consistent with the broad theme and goal that we have which is why we're seeking effective ways to make the Netflix service more accessible to more and more people around the world,” Netflix chief product officer Greg Peters said in an earnings call.

    This strategy has helped Netflix witness a significant increase in acceleration and addition of new members. From a revenue perspective, it's also helping the company go from "neutral to positive", which Peters says will be good in the long term for the business.

    While all streaming players have witnessed magical growth in users during this COVID-19 lockdown, everyone is keen to know about Netflix’s growth in the period. Peters said he would not draw any strong contrast between India and other countries around the world. He mentioned that it is putting high effort to make the offering more competitive and attractive to members.

    “We've seen a big growth in viewing in India and have had great success for our local originals. Most recently was She andGuilty and a few others have been driving a lot of engagement in local content on our India service and they also are big fans of our global original content like Lacasa de Papel. So we're growing the business of licensed originals, international and domestic, across the board,” Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said.