Netflix: streaming revenues in India 2017-2020
India’s video streaming market recorded a high growth with many new players testing waters in recent years. Thanks to the growing internet access in urban as well as rural areas in the country, online video and music streaming services were picking up pace. Streaming giant Netflix entered Indian market as part of its global rollout in 2016, and it was estimated that company would generate approximately 328.3 million U.S. dollars by 2020 in India.
The global growth of Netflix
Netflix’s global net income reached over 1.21 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, while the company’s annual revenue reached 15.79 billion U.S. dollars that same year. The number of streaming subscribers for the company continued to grow in recent years and reached 148.46 million in quarter four of 2018. As for the Indian market, it was projected that there would be over 2.3 million Netflix subscribers by 2020.
Free content rules the roost
However, in terms of active monthly users of streaming platforms, Netflix ranked much lower compared to the Indian streaming services like Hotstar and Jio TV. Hotstar had the highest share of active service users with about 40.2 percent, followed by Jio TV at 18 percent, as of November 2018. A possible reason for this could be the reluctance among Indians to pay for streaming services. In a 2017 survey regarding people’s spending choice on digital video streaming platforms, it was found that 42 percent of respondents chose to only to use free, advertising-based offers for online video content. Video streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hotstar had been pitted against more than 30 Indian rival companies, most of which provide local language content for free, making it harder to break through the market.
The global growth of Netflix
Netflix’s global net income reached over 1.21 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, while the company’s annual revenue reached 15.79 billion U.S. dollars that same year. The number of streaming subscribers for the company continued to grow in recent years and reached 148.46 million in quarter four of 2018. As for the Indian market, it was projected that there would be over 2.3 million Netflix subscribers by 2020.
Free content rules the roost
However, in terms of active monthly users of streaming platforms, Netflix ranked much lower compared to the Indian streaming services like Hotstar and Jio TV. Hotstar had the highest share of active service users with about 40.2 percent, followed by Jio TV at 18 percent, as of November 2018. A possible reason for this could be the reluctance among Indians to pay for streaming services. In a 2017 survey regarding people’s spending choice on digital video streaming platforms, it was found that 42 percent of respondents chose to only to use free, advertising-based offers for online video content. Video streaming services including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Hotstar had been pitted against more than 30 Indian rival companies, most of which provide local language content for free, making it harder to break through the market.
