It seems that the subscription-wise growth rate of OTT platforms in India has now reached a saturation point. So, the competitive world of streaming is bound to get fiercer in the future. OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar are already feeling the heat after the arrival of a revamped version of another biggie, Jio Cinema.
So, what can OTT platforms do to retain and even increase their subscriber base in India? Everyone knows that India is a price sensitive market, and the OTT industry is not immune to it. If major OTT players in India use the price sensitivity of Indian OTT viewers to their advantage instead of thinking of it as a drawback, then it might do wonders for them. But how exactly? Let’s explain further.
One potential strategy which popular Indian OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, and even Jio Cinema can execute is to offer highly customized bundled OTT subscriptions to prospective (paid) customers in accordance with certain preferences.
For instance, Netflix houses content on its OTT platform in different languages. So, languages can act as one preference parameter. Like, if a viewer is interested in watching only Telugu language content on Netflix, then why should he pay for the entire portfolio comprising various other languages like English and Hindi, etc. Another way can be to bundle more than one combined language content like (Telugu + English) or (Hindi + English) etc. and offer these bundled subscriptions at significantly lower prices to prospective subscribers.
Other than bundled subscriptions on the basis of languages, OTT viewers can also be offered content on the basis of their release dates. For instance, some OTT viewers might be interested in watching only the latest content. So, a platform like, say, Amazon Prime Video, can offer its prospective subscribers a package which consists of only recently released titles and not the older ones, which many viewers might have already seen before or simply don’t want to watch.
Another option can be bundled OTT subscriptions customized in terms of a particular genre or genres. For example, for those viewers who want to watch only movies or shows of the action and thriller genre, they can be offered a personalized OTT subscription package on the basis of the genre(s) they are fond of.
In the future, it is unlikely that the prices for subscriptions of OTT platforms in India will come down. In fact, they are expected to follow an upward trend depending on inflation. And that’s the reason why Indian viewers aren’t and won’t be able to subscribe to more than 2-3 different OTT platforms – even the most ardent cinephiles. That’s where the role of the bundled customized OTT subscription packages can come into play. This way, OTT consumers will be able to subscribe to multiple OTT platforms in accordance with their customized tastes and preferences. And it should be a win-win situation for everyone!
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