(Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc’s online streaming service will be adding dozens of new movies and web series in India as it fights arch-rivals Netflix Inc. and The Walt Disney Co. for a larger share of the increasingly competitive local entertainment market.
Amazon Prime Video will release 41 new titles in Indian languages, Kelly Day, its vice president for international operations told reporters at a briefing in Mumbai Thursday. “India is the fastest growing market for Amazon Prime with the most engaged customers,” she said, adding that there were plans to add sports to its platform. “We are uniquely positioned to deliver live sports like cricket. We are excited about it.”
The streaming giant will also start original movie production in India along with co-productions and licensing pacts with some of the biggest Bollywood studios, Gaurav Gandhi, Amazon Prime Video India head said at the media briefing. Another new initiative is the rent-a-movie service, which will help in expanding the platform’s reach to non-Prime members.
There’s an intensifying battle for eyeballs in India — the only billion-people-plus consumer market still open to foreign firms. But it’s also proved to be a tough market. Struggling to add subscribers, Netflix, for instance, has had to cut its fees by as much as 60% to lure price-conscious users.
The competition for grabbing market share has heated up among the streaming platforms even more since the pandemic shut down movie theaters and viewers, stuck at home for weeks, took to content from various geographies and niche genres.
‘Innovation Hub’
Asia’s two richest men are also now looking to expand their footprint in the local media sector. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd. received $1.8 billion in funding from a James Murdoch-backed firm, while Gautam Adani’s group announced setting up a new media subsidiary on Wednesday.
But that isn’t deterring Amazon Prime Video, which has been finding newer ways to push into the Indian market. “A great example of that is our mobile-only edition. India is the only market where we first rolled out our mobile-only service,” Day said. “India is truly an innovation hub for us.”
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