Last week, Netflix lowered the price for its streaming service in India again. Netflix first launched in India in 2018 and, at the time, its CEO predicted subscriber acquisition of c.100 million users [1]. With only 4.4 million subscribers there today [2], it’s clear growth in the region hasn’t been as strong as they’d hoped.
While it might be easy to write India off as a market not suited to video streaming services, the success seen by Amazon in the region tells a different story. Amazon Prime Video already has around 18 million subscribers, set to grow to nearly 22 million by the end of 2021 [3]. In fact, Prime Video has recently upped its prices in India, a clear indication it is not struggling to entice new users.
With a population of 1.4 billion, it is not a market to be dismissed. So, why is Amazon experiencing success where Netflix is struggling?
Bundled offers could have something to do with it. Amazon distributes Prime Video subscriptions through operator tie-ups in India, powered by the Bango platform – including a bundled offer with India’s largest operator, Airtel, giving access to Airtel’s 470 million customer base and Airtel a strong competitive differentiator. Earlier this year, we also helped Amazon launch a new bundled product with Airtel – Prime Video Mobile Edition (PVME) – a lower cost, mobile only version of Prime Video which grew subscriber numbers even further.
At Bango, our goal is to help everyone connected to the platform thrive. Bundled offers provide a ready-made billing relationship for the merchant to tap into, a frictionless experience for the user, and a differentiator for the payment provider. In addition, data insights offered through Bango Boost+ drive up the end user spend of our partners by 20% on average.
[1] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/the-next-100-mn-users-of-netflix-will-come-from-india-netflix-ceo-reed-hastings/articleshow/63047513.cms
[2] https://qz.com/2102433/netflix-is-dropping-prices-in-india-to-boost-subscriber-numbers/
[3] https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/trends/entertainment/amazon-prime-video-trying-to-create-a-super-app-but-will-it-attract-more-indian-subscribers-7500331.html
