Battle for Indian VoD Market intensifies
The era of video on demand (VoD) is rapidly gripping the Indian entertainment industry by virtue of the increase in both international and domestic over-the-top (OTT) players, says leading data and analytics company GlobalData.
The digital media frenzy and the popularity of these players is a testimony that digital video content is going to follow global trends and change the face of video-viewing in India. Some factors such as 4G connectivity, broadband efficiency and digitization make India a preferred destination for global OTT players to look for growth opportunities and thrive in the sub-continent.
A recent GlobalData forecast found that in Asia-Pacific, South Korea and Hong Kong lead the Pay-TV household penetration rates with 159 percent and 104 percent, respectively. In comparison, India has a low penetration rate of 67 percent, but is expected to improve as it has a vast untapped market that is still waiting to be captured.
Haseeb Ahmed, Technology analyst at GlobalData, says: “Clearly, early entrants in the VoD space can gain an edge over their competitors in India. International players like Netflix, Amazon Prime and YuppTV are making early in-roads with different strategies to capture the Indian market, while domestic players such as Hotstar and Sony Liv are following suit.
“For instance, Netflix is contemplating tie-ups with Indian cable operators to integrate Netflix with cable set-top boxes to offer a smart TV-like experience to consumers without smart TVs. Furthermore, the recent introduction of high-on-features, low-on-cost televisions into India, primarily from Xiaomi, may prove a disruptive force in this market.”
Indeed, the competition is becoming even fiercer with a variety of players such as Vu, Xiaomi, Airtel TV and ACT Fibernet vying for a larger pie of the Indian VoD market.
