There are 57 streaming services in India, and this is the number published by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in March. A growing space of ‘aggregators’ is emerging to enter customers’ homes at throwaway prices by tying up with TV operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecom companies.
These aggregators include OTTPlay, YuppTV Scope and Tata Play Binge; Each of these firms is backed by firms with an existing foothold in the media industry and is eyeing the combination of multiple subscriptions that consumers might otherwise be unwilling to subscribe to simultaneously. The trick to completing the business is as simple as it is complex: reduce the overall cost of the bundles so rapidly that No Seems like a waste to subscribe.
Take OTTPlay – the firm, which has Sony LIV, ZEE5, Lionsgate Play and a cachet of other less popular streaming services, claims that its most expensive bundle compares directly to users trying to buy each subscription individually. I am twelve times cheaper. companies are offering them.
The strings are few – for example, OTTPlay says content from streaming service Shemarumi will be available without Gujarati content, and Sony LIV and Zee5 won’t work on Apple TV devices. Otherwise, Avinash Mudaliar, the founder of OTTPlay told Hindu, There were hardly any shortcomings. “There is a clear market, and the market is growing tremendously year on year,” Mr. Mudaliar said.
distribution partnership
While firms like OTTPlay sell bundles directly to customers, they are turning to a form of distribution that could be an easier sell: partnerships with telecom and TV firms for whom customers are already paying monthly bills. Some streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video – which are largely absent from aggregator bundles – have also negotiated distribution on monthly bills from broadband and mobile operators.
Consumers have now started demanding such bundles from telecom operators on such a large scale that some frauds have entered the system, with some companies illegally partnering with broadband and TV operators, even in their without obtaining a license from the streaming platform being distributed by. An aggregation industry executive said, “Pirates take promotional coupons from websites and pass them on to ISPs at a ‘deep discount’.” But when streaming platforms disable these coupons after realizing what’s going on, ISPs and cable operators are inundated with angry phone calls from customers who are unable to activate, requiring He had paid.
business stability
The drastic pricing cuts when each streaming service is pushed through an aggregator raises concerns about how long OTT platforms can get away with pricing that is necessary to pay for the production of content. may not be sufficient. Netflix is particularly skeptical.
“Most of the customer base [for OTT platforms] Telco bundling comes from where you have too many people on your telco plan [that includes a subscription],” Monica Shergill, vice president of content at Netflix India, said at an event earlier this month. “But how many people activate their account? What’s the engagement?”
“The way the industry is evolving, it is highly focused on changing consumer behavior right now,” said Manish Kalra, Chief Business Officer, ZEE5 India. Hindu, “Being part of a bundle helps you increase reach at a lower cost of acquisition…the objective is how and when you want to convert them (bundle users) into direct consumers.”
“It’s early days for the industry, but it’s never too early to be responsible in terms of what model of streaming we’re building,” Ms. Shergill said. “A healthy streaming business will be one where you’re high on engagement, you’re seeing revenue, and you have to put that revenue back into the pool of creators.”