India is a country where the per-capita-income of people becomes quite debatable for them to purchase the subscription for OTT platform. Added to it, the availability of so many OTT platforms make it even costlier for the people to afford the cost of streaming. This made the streaming companies come up with certain strategies to counter this problem by indirectly reducing the subscription costs for their platforms.
The foremost of the strategy is to collaborate with the network providers to include the streaming service with the network service. Many of the platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5 etc. have all collaborated with multiple network service providers to increase their audience. The second strategy is to create free services of entertainment which have less amount of quality content, are not ad free and the experience is sub-par. The examples are Amazon Mini TV (a free alternative to Prime Video) and Hotstar free version. These platforms enable the people who cannot afford streaming services to use them without a cost. In turn, the platform receives a wider audience, plus the revenue through ads.
Though this strategy enables the streaming platforms to widen their audience and create a bigger business; this idea is not good for long term vision. The audience are not actually there for the streaming services, but for the network service or the free entertainment. Once the collaboration gets over, the people will obviously switch over. Also, considering the widespread culture of piracy in India, people always tend to get pirated shows and films instead of buying the subscription for a streaming platform.
Rakesh CK, EVP and head of SVoD and Marketing, Aha explained, “Bundling with telecom operators is a strategic approach to reduce costs and boost user reach, especially in price-sensitive markets like India. By combining OTT subscriptions with telecom services, platforms can access a large user base and offer affordable, bundled content. This reduces acquisition costs while adding value for consumers. However, it’s important to balance this with direct-to-consumer growth objectives to ensure sustainable, long-term success.”
Although it is quite strategic for streaming services to create opportunities to reduce costs and increase their audience; still it becomes important for them to ensure the growth of direct subscribers to create a sustainable business for them.