Indian Web Streaming Platforms Like Hotstar, Jio Cinema Feel The Heat From Global Giants Netflix and Amazon Prime

The Indian video streaming space in the country has become a battleground between global and indigenous players, with former taking bigger slice of the pie.

Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, the two dominant global players have grown their market share , squeezing the market space for the local ones like Hotstar and Jio TV , as reported by Business Standard.

KalaGato, a market intelligence firm that bases its figures from a million smartphone users, reports that Netflix grew its market share from 0.5 per cent early in the year to 6.3 per cent in October , while Amazon Prime’s grew more than two and half times from 4 per cent to 10.8 per cent. The results become significant in the light of the fact that 83 per cent of the viewership is from mobile phones.

With Reliance Jio waging a data war to provide cheaper and faster data to people, and rise in the number of smartphones-users, the demand for OTT platform has also shot up. Indians are willing to spend to subscribe to online video streaming platforms . This has given birth to more than 20 services in less than 18 months. They include Alt Balaji (Balaji Telfilms), VOOT (Viacom18 ) and ZEE5 (ZEE Media Corp).

The growth of Amazon Prime and Netflix is based on factors like early mover advantage, expansive content library and superior product experience like search engines and presentation of data built on insights from operations in other countries. Another major factor is the synergy between content creators and e-commerce, says Ajay Gupta, a partner at AT Kearney.

Amazon Prime comes with the company’s next-day delivery service and Netflix signed up with Airtel to give a 3 month subscription to its users which gave it almost two lakh customers.

Even with growing base of users, Indian OTT’s are taking a beating. The leading Indian OTT Hotstar has slid to 30.6 per cent from 36 per cent in October. Hotstar caters to a strong sports audience.

Aman Kumar, chief business officer at KalaGato, says that the users are spoilt for choice , so whoever can provide engaging content and has the bigger library can win.

Jio’s 25 per cent market share dwindled because of the slowdown in Jio mobile phone sales . It used to bundle Jio Cinema, its main offering but people are waiting for newer model , thus killing the existing sales.

Sony Live is the only Indian app that grew from 3.9 per cent in January to 6.7 per cent in October due to exclusive streaming rights for FIFA World Cup and the latest season of Kaun Banega Crorepati.