Will Netflix be able to dominate in India?

It's been almost two years since Netflix launched in India. In some ways though, it has been an uphill struggle in a country that's much more used to free content. Netflix is, nevertheless, aiming to get bigger in the country using its original content strategy that is focused towards internet consuming audience.

 A recent report by Counterpoint Research ranks Netflix as last among the top-five OTT video streaming services in India, with only a five percent share of the around 100 million strong market in India. The Counterpoint Research study further points out that merely around six percent of the five million people using Netflix actually pay for the service. The rest of them are just taking advantage of the first free month trials that can be availed by changing card details, according to Counterpoint.

Though its progress is slow in the Indian market but it is continuously trying to take a strong foothold in India. Yeah it entered quietly,without too much fuss but now it steps up its battle to conquer India's growing internet streaming market especially with the recent release of LUST STORIES and SACRED GAMES.

Here's a brief overview of both Lust Stories and Sacred Games.

LUST STORIES

Lust stories is a Indian anthology film consisting of four short films directed by Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar, Dibakar Banerjee, Karan Johar. It attempts to unravel the mysteries of women's heart that often brushed under the carpet.It was released on Netflix on June 15 beautifully showing women characters and their desires.This film has wonderfully shown women's struggle to live life on their own terms and discovering life's many pleasures.

SACRED GAMES

Sacred Games,based on Vikram Chandra's book with the same title,follows the life story of Mumbai-based gangster Ganesh Eknath Gaitonde who is established as one of the country's biggest criminals with dozens of murders but he is shown out of action for the past 15 years. The story begins with Sartaj Singh who is an honest cop with the Mumbai Police. In an anonymous phone call from Gaitonde,Sartaj Singh gets a tip about how the entire city of Mumbai will get destroyed in the next 25 days.


CHALLENGES FOR NETFLIX IN INDIA

Despite all the fanfare, netflix faces quite a lot of difficulties in India, some of which we'll be detailing in this post.

The attitudes with which media and content are shared need consideration.For example,earlier netflix was producing only in English language. It is also known that sophisticated classes of India would certainly appreciate the content catered on Netflix currently. But this way, it has to compromise on a larger chunk of viewers, who inhabit in rural India. Therefore, it will be a great setback for Netflix if it targets only rich class population in India because middle income class and lower income class comprises a significant portion of total population of India.

Another challenge for Netflix in India is that if anyone wants to make the most out of netflix need to pay much more for broadband apart from the general subscription fees. Sadly,the harsh reality is that some people will inevitably compare this with torrents which can work with existing broadband connections and requires no subscription fees as well.

Netflix's India subscriptions start at 500 rupees a month, something that experts say currently restricts its appeal to well-off Indians. A challenge for Netflix is that their price points are significantly more expensive than anybody out there. That means their user size is very small at the moment.

It's not going to be a cakewalk for Netflix as the company has to face many challenges head-on. On the surface,the picture is rosy,but understanding consumers in India is a tough nut to crack. Netflix faces tough competition across India from DTH, Amazon Prime,Hotstar,Eros Now and others. Netflix has to make a solid dent in this network as Netflix's subscribers are still a tiny portion of the enormous Indian TV-watchers

Despite these challenges, Netflix plans to enhance its subscriber base in India by producing more local content.


NETFLIX'S UPCOMING PLANS WITH INDIA

Netflix is not planning for immediate future, it is banking on long term investments in a relatively new market. The number of Indians online is growing at lightning speed that's why Netflix is pushing to create content for them. After the release of Sacred Games and Lust Stories, Netflix has announced three more series with India.

First one among them is LEILA which is based on the book by Prayaag Akbar and tells the story of a woman in search of her long lost daughter.
GHOUL is a horror series based on Arabic folklore-starring Radhika Apte, Manav Kaul, and Ratnabali Bhattacharjee - it is written and directed by Patrick Graham, while CROCODILE is a YA murder mystery.

Netflix is still a niche product in India although that could rapidly change as it produces more local content. "With Lust Stories and Sacred Games, we're really getting some nice momentum in our India growth," official at Netflix said. "We just have a lot of work and a lot of opportunities ahead."

Netflix, which has 125 million subscribers in 190 countries, will be hoping that "Sacred Games" and its other Indian dramas will become global hits like blockbuster shows "Narcos" and "Stranger Things". Netflix's rapid expansion in India proves the future of storytelling is here and it's in our hands. All in all, it seems to be a game of "wait and watch" to see who emerges as the leader in India's VOD market.

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