Battleground India: Netflix And Amazon Vying For Market Share

On Wednesday, Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN announced its Prime Video feature would be offered as a paid standalone service worldwide, and it seems India will be a major battleground market between Amazon and OTT trailblazer Netflix, Inc. NFLX.

Let’s look at a few factors that will come into play:

Pricing

With India’s currently most popular video streaming service Eros International available for between just $0.75 and $1.50 per month, any service entering will need to be competitively priced to compete.

• Netflix: Netflix continues to price its content offering in India at $8 per month.
• Amazon: Amazon announced Wednesday it will offer its standalone prime video for just $2.99 per month.

Content

According to Eros' chief financial officer Prem Parameswaran, only 10 percent of the Netflix box office in India is Western, with the vast majority being Bollywood content.

• Netflix: Netflix has targeted the festival circuit rather than partnering with big Bollywood names and recently stepped up the competition by announcing an agreement with Shah Rukh Khan, popular Bollywood star.
• Amazon: Amazon has been laying groundwork over the past year signing content deals with a number of Bollywood’s biggest studio names and is already in talks to produce non-feature film content.

Offline Viewing

With hit-or-miss broadband speeds in the developing country, offline viewing will play an important role in local adoption.

• Netflix: Netflix currently allows offline viewing only on select titles, but it will be adding more to the list.
• Amazon: Amazon allows downloading and offline viewing on compatible devices, letting users to watch shows without an internet connection.