 "Hotstar's user base grows at 100%; Netflix, Amazon not far behind in India")
The emergence of smartphones and faster internet at affordable rates has helped India witness increased consumption of long-form content, such as movies, shows and series, in the digital medium.
In the past two years, India has seen rampant growth in the number of video over-the-top (OTT) services. Digital content market, which was once dominated by Google’s YouTube, has seen new OTT players investing in content tailored for Indian audiences, giving the consumer ample choices.
As the demand for online video streaming platforms rises, the subscriber base of OTT platforms such as Hotstar, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video has seen a huge change over last one year.
According to data released by research firm App Annie, Hotstar -- an OTT platform owned by India’s Star network -- has managed to garner the largest user base in India closely followed by Netflix and Amazon Prime Videos.
Hotstar has witnessed a 100 per cent jump in the subscriber base to 67.5 million in August from 33 million in the same month last year. The OTT platform has also seen a huge hike in terms of time spent by viewers on the platform. The portal has been watched for 15,574 million minutes in August 2017 from 4,739.8 million minutes in the same period last year.
Distant Netflix and Amazon Prime Videos, on the other hand, posted a 100 per cent increase in their user base. In August 2017, the user base of Netflix and Amazon Prime Videos grew to 5.37 million and 12.64 million, respectively.
Interestingly the time spent by viewers on Netflix has grown by more than 150 per cent at 1,563.5 million minutes in August 2017, compared to same period last year.
One reason for global OTT platforms to lag behind India's hotstar is the content. Netflix and Amazon Prime Videos content is largely restricted to English-speaking audiences located in urban areas. On the other hand, Hotstar’s content take advantage of Star network’s indigenous content that is suitable for urban as well as rural population.
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