Inside Amazon's playbook to take on Netflix in India

Go local. Speak the language.

That seems to be Amazon’s mantra in India where it announced the launch of its Prime Video service on Tuesday. 

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In an increasingly competitive on-demand video market in the country, what separates Prime Video from its global competitor Netflix is the focus on locally relevant content – original and partnered – in languages that dominate entertainment consumption in these areas. 

Amazon Prime Video’s India subscribers will have access to films and TV shows in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi and Bengali, some of the country’s most spoken languages, in addition to Hollywood films and other global content.  

And in order to drive this local offering, Amazon has roped in top video content creators from India, led by Bollywood production houses Excel Entertainment, Phantom Films, Big Synergy, and viral comedy outfit AIB. They have also partnered with SS Rajamouli, the director of last year’s colossal success Baahubali, to create an animated prequel to the film.  

This is in sharp contrast to the Netflix entry in India which disappointed fans for not having enough "Indian content" in its library. Though Netflix later announced a bilingual series in India with a local production house, its content has largely been tapping into a global sensibility.  

Add to that its high pricing compared to Amazon's "no additional cost for Prime subscribers" offering, and the Netflix-killer in India could just be around the corner. A standard plan on Netflix India costs Rs 500/month ($7.5). A Rupee less is what you pay for a yearly plan on Amazon Prime Video. 

Local OTT platforms such has Hotstar, run by India's largest broadcasting network STAR, and Eros Now, owned by prominent film production house Eros Entertainment, too, offer a wide variety of India-specific content either for free or at highly attractive prices. Eros, for instance, has a monthly subscription plan of Rs 99 ($1.5). Amazon Prime, if you do the math, is actually giving away its service for less than half per month.  

Low pricing of its video streaming service is clearly aimed at denting the huge piracy market in India, where costs of buying legal content have been prohibitive for most users. In addition to low prices, Amazon is making sure that Indians can access its video library over low data usage.  

"On-demand, ad-free, low-data. That's how we want to change how entertainment is consumed in India," says Nitesh Kripalani, Director and Country Head, Amazon Video India. This is an important part of the strategy as most areas of India continue to be plagued by internet connectivity issues.  

India is also one of the five markets out of the 200+ where Amazon Studios would roll out original content. The company unveiled an impressive list of original shows that will soon be available to Prime customers in India. These shows – Bodhi Dharma, Breathe, The Ministry, Powerplay, Mirzapur, Stardust, The Family Man, Vishpuri, Made in Heaven – will cut across subjects that generally succeed in India - drama, cricket, thrillers, religion etc.  

But conspicuous in its absence is sports content – huge driver of video viewership in India. Amazon Prime Video’s local competitor, Hotstar, has been a runaway success riding on its exhaustive sports programming, live and catch-up, launched during the 2015 Cricket World Cup. Hotstar managed to notch up 25 million downloads within a month. That could be a deterrent in customer acquisition for Prime Video. 

In September, there were media reports of Amazon bidding for the digital media rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL), an insanely popular cricket league that clocks massive viewership numbers. However, Kripalani refuses to comment on speculation. “We know that India is a ‘sports, sports, and more sports’ country. We are evaluating various partnerships, but nothing official yet,” he tells Mashable. 

Amazon Prime globally does not have any sports content on its platform. But it could well start with India.