'Indians among top downloaders of content on mobile phones for Netflix'

Indians rank among the top downloaders of content on mobile phones for Netflix and the company is working on a number of innovations to ensure a smooth viewing experience for its users in the country, a senior official said.

The premium video streaming platform is also focussing on expanding its content library for the Indian market.

Speaking to PTI, Netflix Director - Product Innovation Cameron Johnson said the company believes in "giving consumers more control".

"India is a key market for Netflix... We are cognizant to the various factors like patchy internet and phones with lesser internal memory and have introduced a number of features that allows users to experience the service in a seamless manner," he said.

Johnson said a large chunk of its users in India log on to the platform through their mobile phones and cited the example of downloading over WiFi for watching the content later.

"Our download feature has been a big hit in India -- Indians are amongst the top mobile downloaders in the world for Netflix content," he said.

The company is now introducing 'Smart Downloads'.

When a member finishes watching a downloaded episode, Smart Downloads will delete it, and then automatically download the next episode over WiFi, which ensures that Netflix does not take up additional space on the member's phone without their permission, Johnson explained.

He added that the feature works best for episodic content.

Smart Downloads will work for both Netflix International Originals as well as the other series available on the platform.

"In the past year, Netflix has more than doubled the catalogue in India, creating a compelling and growing content library encompassing original and licensed titles," he said.

Netflix recently released its first Indian original series -- Sacred Games.

Netflix has over 125 million users globally. It, however, does not give out country-specific subscriber numbers.

While Netflix plays in the premium content streaming space, it competes with the likes of Amazon Prime Video and Hotstar as well as other OTT players in the Indian market.

The competition in the video-on-demand space has intensified, especially after the launch of Reliance Jio's services as data tariffs have come down drastically in the country.

New players like Yupp TV, Hungama and ALTBalaji are actively expanding their library with original programming to tap into the Indian market.