Hollywood’s popularity in India should never be underestimated. Disney’s Jungle Book has not only clocked more than Rs 150 crore but also managed to top Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan’s Fan in the process. Now, media conglomerates Star and Sony plan to cash in on this Hollywood rage in a different way.
Sony Liv, the over-the-top services player owned by broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks (SPN) India, and Star India’s Hotstar will use Hollywood movies and English TV content to take on Netflix in the Indian market. Hotstar, which claims over 50 million downloads, has launched its first pay wall (Rs 199 per month) with the launch of sixth season of ‘Game of Thrones’, an HBO original series, along with other TV series. Sony Liv, with over 20 million downloads, has taken the films route and recently launched a subscription service for Bollywood movies.
It is banking on its Hollywood library to offer English movies on subscription and plans to offer titles like The Goosebumps, The Angry Birds, Hotel Transylvania and Concussion to its users before their TV premieres on a per transaction basis for Rs 120.
“While we have subscription plan forRs 150 per month, we are offering recent movies on a pay-per-view and transactional VOD basis for Rs 120. As these films are not aired on TV, we hope that people will pay to watch it on Sony Liv,” said Uday Sodhi, executive VP and digital business head at SPN India. “We are trying to add more and more movies to the library,” he told ET. “Consumers who consume content in English have always been associated with higher spending power.
These consumers also are more amenable to paying for content if they can get it on a when and-where-I-want-it basis,” said Ashish Pherwani, head, advisory for media & entertainment at EY. Earlier this week, Hotstar launched its monthly subscription service for Rs 199 a month with “unspoiled” version of Game of Thrones, an hour after US release. As of now over 30 shows are listed in its catalogue, including the entire HBO Originals library True Detective, Silicon Valley, Veep, Vinyl, Leftovers, Band of Brothers, Entourage, The Sopranos, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
This article was earlier published on The Economic Timeshttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/media/entertainment/hotstar-sony-liv-gear-up-to-take-on-netflix-in-india/articleshow/52033453.cms
