One of the world’s top video streaming services and king of US television content, Netflix launched in India on Thursday.
One of the world’s top video streaming services and king of US television content, Netflix launched in India on Thursday. It comes as direct competition to the likes of Star’s Hotstar, Singapore-based Spuul, Hungama, Eros Now, Muvizz, and many others that are jostling for space in an Internet-speed challenged economy. According to a report by Nielson, a market research firm, India’s online video viewership has increased 100 per cent since 2011 and about 78 per cent of regular Internet users watch or download digital content such as videos, television shows or movies. So while the addition of a giant such as Netflix to the fray may spell good news for viewers, what’s in it for the competitors
Siddhartha Roy, CEO, Hungama said, “Until recently, video streaming services were pegged back due to the inadequate data infrastructure in India. With telcos rolling out 4G services Pan-India, 2016 will be a year for growth of video consumption. The incredible growth of smart phones in India has made the market big enough for multiple video streaming services to thrive simultaneously. We are glad that global players like Netflix are keen on entering the Indian market, since this will contribute in raising awareness about the streaming services as well as grow the market as a whole.”
Uday Sodhi, executive VP, Digital Business at Multi Screen Media (Sony Entertainment) is looking at the positive side too. Killing piracy and illegal downloading are two of the favourable changes that Netflix promises to bring, he points out. “With Netflix joining, it will only help build the digital entertainment media ecosystem. I think there is a lot of room to grow for different kinds of content. And with the current scenario, we need a lot of inputs to build a stronger platform for the digital media. Foremost among them is the smart phone penetration — India has about 150 million smart phone users now. Secondly, as the bandwidths improve, it will help accessibility and online payment mechanism. These factors have considerably improved in the last few years, but with international players joining in, things might happen at a better pace,” he says adding, “The fact remains, that it’s been two or three years and digital entertainment is still at a nascent stage and the more players come in, it will help evolve the market. I see it as a good thing. Especially, a lot of piracy and illegal downloading will stop and people will start watching content legitimately. As far as original content is concerned, there won’t be any dearth of that in the future.”
The success of the brand however, depends on the strength of our online ecosystem to sustain it. As Nachiket Pantvaidya, CEO, ALT Digital Media Entertainment Ltd reminds us, most international brands in India were successful only when customised for the Indian consumer. In this context, it means coping with our spending capacity, Internet speed and popular tastes. “Be it a product, price or promotion, they have to be customised for the Indian market. This typically needs them (international brands) to revisit established norms, more so in a nascent market like the VoD market. It will be interesting to see how the VoD players in the market can do this and how the market evens out as a consequence.”
Samir Kocchar, television host Netflix in India is extremely exciting news and I'm quite kicked about it as well. Hopefully, we will have access to all the international shows on a real-time basis and there won't be any bias towards the Indian market. So yes, waiting with bated breath. Everybody I know and I'm guessing just about everybody of this generation is consuming content from TV shows and films at an alarming rate. Words like torrent, stream and download have epic proportions in conversations today and if you haven't watched the last episode of the last season of “Who the hell is GRRM going to kill next”, then my friend, you deserve to be a casualty yourself! So if the Netflix entry guarantees us access to watch our favourite couch potato addictions at par with the international releases, then it is going to be an overnight hit. I’m not aware of any other VOD providers who share as mythic and lord-like an image as Netflix. I usually use a lot of Youtube and iTunes. Between friends, we exchange a lot of DVDs and TV shows on hard drives and then I spend like an entire day or two just completely vegging out on one entire season. For me, when I'm hooked on to a TV show, I cannot stop myself from going all out and finishing the entire season in one go.
Sophie Choudry, actor I am very excited about Netflix coming to India! In fact, I had signed up for it ages ago and was just waiting for it to be active. It is an incredible platform with fantastic content, all the latest TV shows and great quality. I am anti-piracy so you will usually find me buying the TV shows I want abroad or on iTunes. And Netflix gives access to a world of exciting content.
Cyrus Sahukar, theatre actor and VJ It's an amazing move and it'll be even better if they produce content from India. It's a revolutionary idea as they have some of the best shows and a repertoire of documentaries and movies. The only glitch in India is the Internet speed. We have YouTube, Colors Infinity and HBO that have good shows but here we have a giant like Netflix which is very good at what it does, and will slowly be a game changer. An average person has a plethora of options available on the Internet always — I'm glad they have given us a legal way to do so.
Netflix: What you need to know According to the company’s statement, one will need at least a 3 megabits-a-second broadband connection to watch movies, and 5 megabits-a-second to watch anything in high definition. This would mean that most Indians will have to upgrade their Internet connection to watch Netflix. A new router may be the need of the hour as well since older wireless routers that came free cannot process fast Internet speeds.
Netflix plans in India start at Rs 500 per month for access on 1 SD screen. For Rs 650 per month for HD content on two screens at a time and Rs 800 per month for 4K content on up to four screens simultaneously.
One can signup for Netflix via its website or the Netflix apps on iOS, Windows, and other platforms.
An initial fee of Rs 70 is charged during sign up to authenticate the card. As of now, it has a few Indian films and shows and is working on expanding the base with regard to desi content
