Why OTT players are jostling to capture India’s massive video-streaming market

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Netflix’s decision to revise its pricing plans in Singapore and Malaysia earlier this year may have caused its subscribers, including me, to collectively cuss. Still, we stayed on, smiling through the pain of shelling out up to US$2.20 more – all for the sake of being entertained.

The over-the-top-streaming (OTT) platform, however, has nothing on the world’s fastest-growing video-streaming market: India. With over 40 players including WarnerMedia’s HBO and WB competing to capture the majority of the market, the runway is a long and expensive one.

Today, we look at:

• The OTT players that are banking on India’s valuable video-streaming market
• Why Tencent’s strong Q3 earnings couldn’t have come at a worse time
• Other newsy highlights such as Alibaba’s record Singles Day sales, and Singapore’s new work pass to attract tech talent

PREMIUM SUMMARY

India’s video-streaming market is thriving, and everyone wants in

India’s appetite for quality video-streaming content has only grown since the pandemic spread. While the lockdown fueled people’s willingness to pay for subscriptions, “video streaming is now increasingly a habit,” says Rahul Maroli, senior vice president and head for subscription video on demand (SVOD) at ZEE5 India.

• All-access pass: India will be the sixth-largest market for video streaming by 2024, according to a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers. A prime driver of this revenue is SVOD, which will make up 93% of the estimated US$2.9 billion market by 2024.
• Let the bodies hit the floor: With at least 40 providers vying for a hefty slice of India’s video-streaming pie, competition is intense – enough to squeeze Singapore’s now-defunct Hooq and Hong Kong’s Viu out of the market. When Viu announced its departure from India in late 2019, a company representative described the Indianmarket as “complex and challenging… with no current path to sustained monetization.”
• On the money: Indian users are value-conscious, so few of them would be willing to make sustained payments just to make a lifestyle statement. That’s the view of Gourav Rakshit, chief operating officer at Viacom18 Digital Ventures, the parent company for VOD service Voot. And Netflix seems to agree: Despite raising subscription prices by 13% to 18% across the US and Latin America in January 2019, the steaming giant knew not to subject India to this change. Instead, it launched an exclusive, US$2.69-a-month, mobile-only plan to customers in July last year.

Read more: High-voltage drama in the world’s fastest-growing video-streaming market

NEWS SPOTLIGHT

Tencent posts strong earnings amid China’s proposed anti-monopoly laws