It is holiday season now and people are showing a tendency of binge watching web shows more than ever. Amazon Prime Video India has released a teaser for the promotion of its American originals, and they hardly consist of 6 or 7 well known shows. As they are American originals, it seems like there should be more diversity to the list. Amazon Prime Video India has a collection of very few international shows like ‘Fleabag’, ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan’, ‘Sherlock’ etc. On the other hand Netflix India has a huge collection of foreign shows including both originals and non-originals.
Prime Video India should focus on acquiring the streaming rights of famous shows from streaming platforms of America like Paramount+, Peacock or HBO+. There is a huge audience for shows like these and the unavailability of the streaming platforms in India makes it frustrating for these audiences. The streaming rights are bagged by various platforms and looks like Amazon Prime Video India is not that concerned to stream many foreign shows.
There is no doubt about the quality of the shows that Amazon Prime Video streams in India. Fleabag is one of the most famous comedy drama miniseries and the popularity of Benedict Cumberbatch’s ‘Sherlock’ is unparalleled. But it is difficult for a streaming platform to compete with other streaming giants with lesser quantity even if the quality is great. And there is no way we can deny the quality of foreign shows streaming on other platforms as Netflix is good enough. There are shows like ‘Breaking Bad’, ‘Peaky Blinders’, ‘Episodes’, ‘Frasier’ streaming on Netflix and these shows are non-originals. The popularity of ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Peaky Blinders’ is a huge plus point for Netflix and it is difficult for other OTT platforms to parallel this popularity with any other non-original show. Netflix originals include hugely popular shows like Money Heist and Squid Game.
These are the reasons Prime Video India should consider purchasing streaming rights from platforms like HBO, BBC etc. It has a huge subscriber base in India and it has potential to succeed even more. Understanding what the audience likes and what the audience wants will help the platform grow bigger.