The 300m smartphones on which Indians watch video today outnumber India’s 200m TV-owning households
night in India the family television set might be tuned to one of countless dowdy soap operas. The dramas play out over hundreds of episodes; strict broadcast standards on sex and violence mean they rarely sizzle. It is either that, or realityFlipping channels is no longer Indian-lovers’ only option, however. Hundreds of millions watch videos on their phones, on crowded commutes, at home in the evening, or at work—often free of charge.
India’s allure is understandable. Besides being populous and fast-growing, it lacks quality home-grown cable television likeor Showtime against which new content providers must compete. “We never made our ‘Sopranos’,” says Sameer Nair, boss of Applause Entertainment, which produces “The Office”and “Criminal Justice” .
However, in America $10 a month for Netflix is a steal next to an $80 monthly cable bill. India, where households can already enjoy 300channels for $3-4 a month, is the other way around. Netflix costs twice as much. Media Partners Asia, a research firm, estimates the American streaming giant has just 1m subscribers in India out of its 139m subscribers worldwide. To boost that count it recently introduced half-price mobile-only offers for 250 rupees per month.
That may not be cheap enough. Amazon charges just 999 rupees a year for its Prime subscriptions, which include free shipping for purchases with the e-commerce behemoth as well as films and, Disney’s new service which bundles sports and programmes like “Criminal Justice”, costs 365 rupees a year. Mr Gupta says he hopes to spend close to $300m on original programming within a year.
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