The last weekend was indeed a very big weekend for Netflix, as it made 2 days completely free for viewers to watch any content on the app. This was called the “StreamFest”. This resulted in 8 lakh mobile downloads for the app over the weekend, as reported by an analytics firm “Apptopia”. Although it’s very unclear as to how many of these users will actually become regular, paying subscribers, the growth for the app was immense during the weekend.
The 8 lakh figure reportedly represented 2750% increase in downloads as compared to the earlier week. In global records, Netflix saw 1.3 million downloads for the free trial period. Originally the StreamFest was supposed to be for 2 days, in the weekend but the increased numbers of people registering for it made the website go into full capacity mode and hence the StreamFest had to be extended. Later the OTT Giant tweeted that it would let those who have registered after the full capacity know as to when they will get their free 48 hours period through their registered email id. This could be one loss that could hamper the service, as many might have just registered for the StreamFest but might not turn into full blown subscribers for the OTT platform.
According to research analysis by Media Partners Asia, an independent firm, Netflix is estimated to close the year with 4.6 million paid subscribers in India. The service overall, is expected to have more than 25 million subscribers from the Asia pacific region by the end of the year. Out of which India could comprise 9% of the service’s revenue share in 3rd quarter of 2020.
To be ahead in the game, Netflix too is doing its bit to stay in the game. Recently Netflix partnered up with Jio to give subscriptions to those who have post-paid subscriptions. It also has some mobile specific plans that are feasible for people to view on their phones easily. Other than that Netflix is pulling in a lot of Hindi language original content along with venturing into other regional Indian languages. The Indian original content has been a hit during the lockdown which resulted in making more of those, along with Spanish, Japanese and Korean content. Indian content that has been released during the lockdown was viewed in most Asian countries especially the Middle East and Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia. These countries pull a lot of subscribers for the platform too as there has been an immense fandom for a long time for the Indian Film scene.
All in all, the StreamFest can be considered most definitely a success and specially aiming for a country with a big population that will invest time and money for good quality content.
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