Advancing towards the establishment of a stronger presence in India, Netflix welcomes telecom companies like Airtel and Vodafone along with Videocon d2h to its streaming platform.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings on Monday announced a strategic partnership with aforementioned companies to offer locally-produced series and films to Indian viewers. The streaming service will provide its content over-the-top (OTT) through these partners, meaning Netflix will allow the companies to stream videos direct-to-home and mobile platforms as well.
Reed further revealed that the company is planning to open an office in Mumbai to coordinate Indian operations and to intensify ubiquity here. In the months to come, the company will be investing heavily to focus on improved viewership. India being a movie-centric and among the top three markets across the globe (in terms of mobile usage) contests as a major potential region for content development and paid users for Netflix.
Talking about the services offered in the country, Hastings said,
In 2017, we will work on making our Indian service better in every dimension. What’s unique about Netflix is that we have got international originals and we will focus on premium content.
With the fresh collaborations, the company plans to deliver more compelling stories from all over the world and an ever-improving viewing experience to the Indian audience. The company will focus on programmes like ‘House of Cards’, ‘Narcos’ and ‘The Crown’ which have been appreciated globally and will bring on further such series onto the platform. For Bharti Airtel, the telecom provider will combine Netflix app into its direct-to-home service pan-India, boosting the marketing strategy for the company further.
Videocon will add a dedicated Netflix button on the remote control and will integrate the service to the company’s set-up box. A user can directly access their favorite shows and movies using the remote itself. Netflix is titled as an exclusive HD Smart Connect STB partner for Videocon. While the partnership for D2h company raises its position in the electronics industry in terms of innovation and viewing experience for users.
Speaking on its collaboration with Netflix, Gopal Vittal, MD and CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel said,
Airtel has been a pioneer in bringing the best of global content and products to its customers. We are delighted to partner Netflix to bring their popular content to our customer on one of our key digital platforms.
Vodafone has agreed on pre-paid programs with Netflix, which will see it integrate subscription payments with monthly mobile bills for Vodafone customers. Vodafone is the first mobile partner for Netflix in India and will be offering rich content to our millions of customers in a seamless manner.
The company will soon be broadcasting new seasons for acclaimed web series ‘Orange is the New Black’ and ‘House of Cards’. It will also stream Marvel’s ‘Iron Fist’ and will grant members exclusive access to Netflix original films such as ‘War Machine’, ‘Okja’ and ‘Our Souls at Night’ from Indian director Ritesh Batra. Detailing further progress in India, Hastings said,
Working with some of India’s top artists, we cannot wait to bring more locally-produced series and films to our more than 93 million members households around the world.
