Amazon has finally made the Prime Video apps available on both Android and iOS, and if you are a subscriber to Amazon Prime, you can immediately start using the app. It had been widely expected that the streaming service would launch at the time of India’s biggest holiday period, the Diwali festival in October, but that did not materialize.

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Finally, Amazon Prime Video
Launched in India
Amazon has finally made the Prime Video apps available on both
Android and iOS, and if you are a subscriber to Amazon Prime, you can
immediately start using the app. It had been widely expected that the
streaming service would launch at the time of India’s biggest holiday
period, the Diwali festival in October, but that did not materialize.
Cost of the Subscription
Prime subscription in India is available at an introductory price of Rs
499 for a year, which is expected to go up to Rs 999 later. But according
to industry sources, the company is not expected to increase the
subscription fee. In the US, a Prime subscription costs $99, and in the

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UK it is for £96. Netflix offers its lowest pack at Rs 500 per month,
while Hotstar offers premium subscription at Rs 199 per month.
Deals Sealed Before the Launch
Amazon has signed content deals with Karan Johar’s Dharma
Productions, Mukesh Bhatt’s Vishesh Films, and Bhushan Kumar’s T-
Series for their entire existing and upcoming films. It had also signed
long-term deals with Green Gold Animation (Super Bheem, Chhota
Bheem and Mighty Raju) and Japan-based TV Asahi Corporation
(Doraemon, Shin chan, and Ninja Hattori) for kids' content, and Tamil
Nadu’s V Creations for its superhit films including Kabali and Theri.
Competition from Netflix and Local Players
Industry observers say Amazon has set aside $300 million, or close to Rs
2,000 crore, for content in India, which is higher than annual
programming budgets of top 3 Hindi general entertainment channels put
together.
Amazon Prime Video will be entering a crowded Indian SVOD market
with plenty of local competition. Netflix launched in January of this year
and, unlike Amazon’s push for populist Bollywood fare, is acquiring
films that have been on the festival circuit. More directly competitive
with Amazon’s expected programming is Eros International’s Eros Now
service, which boasts some 5,000 new and library titles; Viacom 18’s
Voot; Star TV India’s Hotstar; and Sony Entertainment Television’s Liv,
all of which have significant Bollywood content. Eros Now has 55
million registered subscribers, while Hotstar has a 100 million.

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Unlike Netflix, which launched its services in India in January this year
without much of Indian content, Amazon has been busy stitching content
deals with Indian content creators to have localised content across
genres — from Bollywood movies to original web series and kids
content.
While most of its deals with filmmakers for future films are for an
exclusive window before television premiere, Amazon has also picked
up entire existing libraries of production houses that will give the e-
commerce player an edge over Netflix.
Prime in Regional Languages
India is a multi-cultural land where the regional languages play a special
role in the hearts of people. If anyone is to dominate the market, it will
have to adopt strategies to cater these languages. So, Prime will be
available in languages like Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu
among others.
Conclusion
While Amazon boasted Wednesday that its Prime Video service is now
available in more than 200 countries and territories, China – the world’s
most populous nation and second-largest entertainment market – is
absent from the global presence, so are North Korea and Iran.
Nevertheless, Prime Video definitely will give tough time to video on
demand service majors. Also, Amazon would find it much easier to
persuade customers for the membership-based model.

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