India cheapest country to watch Amazon Prime Video: Some interesting facts

Indian customers pay 86.4% less for a monthly subscription of online streaming platform Amazon Prime Video. Available at a monthly membership price of Rs 129, online streaming platform Amazon Prime Video is the cheapest in India. According to a study by technology research firm Comparitech, in a list of 28 countries, India has been found the cheapest place to watch Amazon Prime Video.

India is followed by Japan, Brazil, Australia and Mexico in the cheapest list.

“If we compare the overall cost per month of Amazon Prime Video around the world, India is by far the cheapest place to get it. At a cost of just $1.76 (£1.37) per month, it’s $11.23 cheaper than the US or UK, respectively,” the study said. With 2,351 titles, including movies, shows and documentaries, Amazon Prime Video is 115% cheaper in India than the average.

Difference in pricing in the US and India

US

In the list of most expensive countries to watch Amazon Prime Video, US tops the list followed by Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the UK. Americans pay $12.99 monthly for Amazon Prime Video. By paying the most, Americans also get to watch the most number of movies and TV shows on the over-the-top video streaming platform. The US version has close to 17,000 movies and over 1,300 TV shows. 

India

Indians pay just Rs 129 per month as subscription charges. In India, Amazon Prime’s annual membership plan comes at a discounted price of Rs 999 besides a free one-month trial. India's Amazon Prime Video library consists of close to 2,000 movies and about 400 shows, according to the report.

Amazon Prime offers a lot of benefits too

Launched in July 2016, at an introductory annual subscription price of Rs 499, the rates doubled within a year to cost Rs 999 per year. Yet, users feel the fee is worth paying. Prime members are guaranteed fast and free deliveries on most of the products listed on the e-commerce platform. They are also given exclusive deals and early access to few of Amazon's big sales. Amazon has put a lot of focus on the content it delivers on Prime Video with a vast catalogue of Hindi and regional movies and Indian originals. Amazon also offers free Prime subscription as part of bundled offers with Vodafone and Airtel.

How Netflix is struggling to adopt the Amazon Prime Video formula in India

Considering the massive currency divide between the two nations, you’d expect the streaming service subscription to be cheaper in India, especially when you look at the difference in the content library. With the Netflix USA Standard subscription costing $7.99 and the same on the Indian Netflix platform costing Rs 550 (approximately $7.72), there isn’t much of a price gap between the two.

According to finder.com, on average, Netflix India has less than 12% of the streaming content available on Netflix USA, despite costing almost the same. Netflix's rigid policy gives an upper-hand to its rival Amazon Prime Videos.