Amazon Prime Video is one of the most popular Over-The-Top (OTT) platform in India with its phenomenal customer-base in the country. Most recently, the platform has launched its mobile-only subscription plans with an aim to reach a wider audience as there is a major chunk of users that prefer consuming content via smartphones.
Amazon’s OTT platform has already secured a customer base in over 4,300 cities in India as mentioned in a report by Financial Express, and the new pricing tiers is a strategic move by the platform to further expand its user base and reach more customers.
The traditional Amazon Prime Video membership was available for INR 999 per year which makes it Rs 129 for a month, and the new mobile-only plan is starting with an introductory price of INR 89 per month for single-user use.
It is noteworthy to mention that India is the first country to which Amazon is offering mobile-only plans as it realises that it is a mobile-first market with an ever-increasing potential. The video available for mobile-only plans would be SD quality which according to the majority is sufficient for a mobile display.
According to several reports, Amazon Prime Video is partnering with Bharti Airtel to roll-out the mobile edition of the OTT service. This collaboration means that all Airtel customers on bundled-pre paid mobile packs can avail a 30-days free trial of Amazon Prime Video mobile service by simply signing-in on Amazon using their Airtel mobile number.
As mentioned in a report by Financial Express; Jay Marine, Vice President, Amazon Prime Video Worldwide says that India is one of the fastest-growing countries with high engagement rates, considering which the company wants to offer its much-loved video entertainment content to an even larger customer base in India.
The COVID-19 induced nation-wide lockdowns have been tough for most people as they were forced to stay inside their houses. In such stressful situations, people turned to OTT platforms for entertainment and content because of which the consumption rates of these platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+Hotstar and others have been respectfully high.
According to a report by Financial Express, Gaurav Gandhi, India Director and Country General Manager mentioned in an exclusive interview that about 55 original series are in development and about 31 are in production at different stages.
India-original web series like Mirzapur and Paatal Lok has become a major hit among Indians that gained a lot of popularity. Amazon Prime is counting on the potential of Indian customers to consume and like Indian-based exclusive content.
In a report, Amazon mentioned that the number of prime members who streamed content on Amazon Prime Video increased by more than 80% on monthly basis in Quarter 3 of 2020.