Joining the ever-growing list of video streaming services in India, London-based Mubi has now debuted in the Indian market. In a market currently dominated by streaming services like Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime and AppleTV+, ‘Mubi,’ a 12 year old curated movie streaming service is coming in to target India’s movie-buff audience.
Citing a tough competition from the already existing giants, Mubi will start offering its service at a relatively cheaper rate. Its three month subscription will cost ₹199 ($2.8) which will later be increased to $7 a month or $67 a year, averaging the monthly cost around $5.5 a month. Relating this figure to the £9.99 monthly subscription fee being charged in UK, and $10.99 in US, it is safe to assume that Mubi has found the right marketing pulse for the cost conscious market of India.
Despite not having a widely acclaimed market for itself, Mubi has managed to create a name for itself with its curated selection of critically acclaimed movies. Unlike other streaming services, Mubi’s catalog is not that wide, but only consists of 30 movies at a time. Everyday, a new movie gets added to the catalog, and one vanishes at the same time.
The service began its journey in 2007 with the intent of being what Netflix currently is, however, they could not afford thousand of titles for their subscribers. Efe Cakarel, founder and chief executive of the company once told the New York Times;
“In the beginning, we wanted to be like Netflix, but the unit economies of an ‘all-you-can-eat’ site is very capital-intensive. The question becomes, how do you create a compelling experience? If you can’t get 10,000 titles, how about a limited selection?”
Mubi hosts 9 million subscribers. In an interview last month, Cakarel stated that where most of the streaming services are focused on big TV series;
“Mubi focuses on finding gems, often going back decades, that very few people know of. We are giving distribution to such films. You may not like a film, but it is there for a reason.” Cakarel said in an interview;
“Monga has the sensibility for great cinema. The kind of films she produces, the kind of films she champions are the type of films more people should see. I cannot be more fortunate that she sees our vision in India.”
For the first time since its launch, Mubi has released a dedicated channel for the audience where local movies are being showcased. Apart from this, viewers can also rent movies from the platform for $3.5.
For its business in India, the company has appointed Academy Award winner Guneet Monga as content adviser. Monga said, “I’m thrilled we have launched a dedicated channel for Indian cinema as it means that film lovers can now watch amazing films like Salaam Bombay and Andaz Apna Apna, alongside globally renowned gems like Moonlight.”
Mubi is entering India with a slew of top Indian production houses onboard as partners. The company has secured deals with local big names like FilmKaravan, NFDC, PVR Pictures, Shemaroo, and Ultra to update the Indian catalog everyday. Some noteworthy titles to dig for are Kamal Swaroop’s cult film ‘Om Dar-B-Dar,’ Kanu Behl’s ‘Binnu Ka Sapna’ and Mani Kaul’s ghost film ‘Duvidha.’
Mubi Go, a service which allows subscribers to book movie ticket to the local theaters is not yet included in India.
