The OTT content consumption graph is steadily peaking in India. Global OTT giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video have been targeting the regional OTT market and are consistently rolling out India-centric content. At the heart of it, the subscription charges are playing a decisive role in the penetration of these OTT giants in the regional pockets.
Starting from today, Amazon Prime has hiked the subscription charges. Amazon Prime’s annual, quarterly, and monthly subscriptions which were previously priced at Rs 999, Rs 329, and Rs 129 respectively will now be costing Rs 1499, Rs 459, and Rs 179 respectively.
In the wake of Amazon Prime’s price hike, Netflix has dropped its subscription charges, a cleverly disguised tactic to attract the Indian OTT audience. Netflix has chopped off its monthly mobile, basic, standard, and premium charges from Rs 199, Rs 499, Rs 649, and Rs 749 respectively to Rs 149, 199, 499, and 649 respectively.
While Netflix has dropped the subscription prices, the OTT giant has also deducted content streaming resolution. The mobile and basic plans will offer a paltry 480P resolution. The 1080P HD streaming plan is priced at Rs 499, and Rs 649 now.
A section of the OTT audience opine that Netflix’s basic, and mobile plans are basically useless as they offer just 480P streaming, which is not even comparable to the HD streaming provided by Amazon and Disney+ Hotstar.
But at the same time, there is a counterargument that the majority of the OTT audience wouldn’t be particular about the resolution as they will get to stream Netflix at slashed prices.
Amazon Prime, and another major OTT player in India, Disney+ Hotstar offer HD content streaming right from their basic subscription plans. Netflix has opted to cut down on the resolution factor in order to chop off the subscription prices. Will Netflix’s new pricing model help them penetrate into the regional OTT market, something that they have been failing to do even since their entry in India? We have to wait and see.
