MUMBAI: Netflix is tuning itself to India’s needs. Netflix chief product officer Gregory Peters said in an earnings call that the company will experiment with cheaper pricing models, betting on India to bring in its next 100 million subscribers for its long-term goal in a bid to increase its growth.
Netflix is currently the most expensive streaming service in India. It has three existing plans in the country priced at Rs 500, Rs 650 and Rs 800 per month. The Rs 500 plan is for a single screen while Rs 650 plan offers HD content. On the other hand, Amazon Prime offers annual subscription in India at Rs 999 and also has a Rs 129 per month plan.
“We’ll experiment with other pricing models, not only for India but around the world that allows us to sort of broaden access by providing a pricing tier that sits below our current lowest tier and we'll see how that does in terms of being able to accelerate our growth and get more access,” said Peters.
Company executives in the earnings call said that they were encouraged with the growth they have seen in India. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said that the company will take it ‘one million at a time’ when it comes to subscriber growth in the market. “There are over 300 million mobile households and almost twice that in mobile subscription, so there’s a huge market,” he added.
Netflix has also planned to take on competition in India with more multi-lingual content. Hastings said that after signalling possible options, it could expand beyond English into Hindi and then into more languages, more pricing options and more bundling.
In the past, Netflix launched its first original show in India Sacred Games followed by Lust Stories and Ghoul. It has also released a movie called Love Per Square Foot.
Netflix’s streaming revenue grew by 36 per cent year over year in Q3 to $3.9 billion, as average paid membership increased by 25 per cent and ASP rose by 8 per cent. International revenue included a -$90 million year over year impact from currency, excluding the impact of F/X, international ASP rose 11 per cent year over year and 2 per cent sequentially.
