After introducing the world’s cheapest monthly plan of Rs 199 – Mobile-only and SD resolution, Netflix is now testing a new plan: “Mobile+” plan in India. For the new Mobile+ plan, Netflix is planning to offer HD resolution video and access on PC, Mac, and Chromebook expect Television.
With this new low-cost subscription mobile plan, Netflix is trying to gain more subscribers in India amid growing demand for video streaming services. The new Mobile+ plan costs Rs 349 with similar restriction to Rs 199 plan, one device at a time.
The new plan seems to become a Basic plan of the app in the Indian market. By offering HD video and the option to stream on PC and Mac this looks like Netflix trying to create a plan targeting a specific set of subscribers who use the app more on these devices.
Netflix Mobile+ plan is great for those who don’t own a smart TV or care for Big Screen experience. By not limiting the plan to Mobile as the present basic plan does, Netflix clearly reads the minds of Indians.
As of now, this is a test plan being run by the company. Netflix says it will wait and watch if the new Mobile+ plan becomes a success by adding subscribers before rolling it out permanently.
The coronavirus pandemic has changed the present OTT market in India. With Cinema halls shut indefinitely, digital platforms are becoming the host to release movies. This new trend in the market is seen as changing the audience’s collective movie-watching experience.
Lockdown to control the virus has turned in to big beneficiary for the OTT platform. As people spending more time at home now they are subscribing to these platforms. The subscribers base in the country surge by 80 percent as top platforms gaining huge new sign-ups.
According to a study by Velocity MR titled ‘Surviving COVID-19 and beyond: A Consumer Perspective- Part 2’, Netflix’s new subscriptions grew by 65 percent amid the lockdown. This trend continued as new movie releases on the OTT platform helped to increase the growth.
Netflix released Maska, Mrs Serial Killer, Choked during the lockdown. These movies are released on the platform exclusively due to the shut of theatres in the country. Netflix has announced Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Movie starting Jhanvi Kapoor which was set to hit theatres back in March.
The present Rs 199 mobile basic plan was introduced in 2019 targeting mobile users as internet consumption on mobile is highest in India. However, the surge in content consumption and subscription of video streaming platforms became the right time for Netflix to introduce new plans targeting present needs.
With a 5 percent hold on the Indian market, the company has a long way to grow its footprint in the video streaming market. In December Netflix’s Cheif Executive Reed Hastings announced that Netflix will spend Rs 3,000 crores on content programming in India.
“This year and next year, we plan to spend about Rs 3,000 crores developing and licensing content and you will start to see a lot of stuff hit the screens,” he said at an event in New Delhi.
The California based streaming giant added a record of 193 million subscribers globally, of which 26million added in the first half of 2020. In India, it is facing strong competition from Amazon India, Disney+ Hotstar, and local streaming giants ZEE5 and ALTBalaji.
The Mobile plan launched earlier has been expanded to other south Asian countries and helped Netflix grew base in said, said the company. The new plan is clearly to build a strong customer base in the country and compete with the existing players in the market.