Netflix looks to further reduce prices in India
Netflix has considerably expanded its Indian original library of late
MUMBAI: Netflix finally understands the requirement of price-conscious India. Despite significant investment in the country, the streaming giant hasn’t been able to break into the top three OTT platforms list. So, the company has realized the need to lower prices to broaden its accessibility and add more subscribers. Along with that, the company is also adopting the right payments models to make consumers feel comfortable to pay.
“We're quite certain that we should do something to find a price tier that's lower than the existing lowest price tier to broaden that accessibility. We think that they'll be important to adding members in India. We'll see what the right mix of features is at the right price point in a way that the consumer can relate to. It has to be natural and intuitive to the consumer. So we've got more work to go do there, but it's something we're highly focused on,” Netflix chief product officer Greg Peters said in an earnings call after Q1 result.
It was reported a few weeks ago that the Netflix was experimenting with a mobile-only monthly plan priced at Rs 250 and weekly plan priced at Rs 65. The mobile-only plans will allow users to access the platform on mobile phones and tablets but only on one screen at a time. Peters thinks mobile-only plans can be a great example to get subscriber economy right but the company is uncertain if it’s the right model or whether something else should be tested.
Netflix has considerably expanded its Indian original library since the launch of Sacred Games. After the release of another big hit Delhi Crime, the company recently announced 12 new Original films. Peters also stated that Delhi Crime has been a success both in India and outside the country. He added that Netflix is getting the payback of high investment in Indian local language content in the form of excitement and member growth as well as watch time growth which is encouraging it to stick to the existing path.
According to Peters, local stories are an opportunity for Netflix to look at how to broaden the accessibility of the service to more Indian consumers.
“And so part of that is making sure that we have the right payment models in place and innovating and testing our new models to make the Indian consumer feel like they have existing ways of paying that are natural to them that they can use to pay for Netflix,” he stated.
While home-grown platforms are also highly dependent on telecom and broadband partners to acquire consumers, Netflix is also emphasizing the importance of partnership. Peters said that its partnership with Airtel is working well. Hence, he thinks it’s important to use existing different go-to-market mechanisms to make it easy for consumers to sign up.
“We're also trying to do a bunch of experimentation with just our plan structure and thinking about pricing and plans. We’re testing different models that allow us to bring a lower price plan with the right feature set in a way that any consumer around the world can understand so we can broaden access to the service. So all of that is an ongoing effort that we think is a great match for the broadening of the Indian content catalog that we have,” Peters explained.
