After experimenting with different types of plans to woo Indian users, it appears that Netflix has finally caught the pulse of Indian OTT subscribers. The new much affordable plan of Netflix is convincing enough to signup for Netflix today – if you haven’t subscribed yet.
Netflix is testing a new plan where users can stream content on laptop, besides a smartphone or table, that too in HD quality. Named as the “Mobile+” plan, it is made available to users who want to enjoy Netflix content on a screen bigger than a smartphone.
Keeping the Indian conditions and price-sensitive nature of users in India in mind, Netflix has price tagged the new plan with just Rs 299 – a much affordable plan compared to the Rs. 649 plan which allows users to stream Netflix content on a computer and TV.
The subscribers of the Netflix Mobile+ plan are restricted to stream content on a single screen, be it a smartphone, tablet or laptop.
A few months back the company announced another Rs 199 plan specifically designed for smartphone users. Subscribers of that plan could stream Netflix content only on mobile devices but can’t mirror it on a bigger screen i.e. laptop. The streaming quality was also restricted to 480p to discourage users to view it on a bigger screen somehow.
This helped Netflix to acquire 1 million new subscribers from India.
A majority of people still prefer to view OTT content on a bigger screen like Laptop or TV. Those who specifically wanted to view on a laptop had to subscribe for a comparatively expensive plan designed for TV users as well.
This will change with Netflix Mobile+ plan as users can now have the experience of Netflix in HD quality on a laptop at a much affordable price of Rs 299.
Netflix Mobile+ Plan: India Is Important
Undoubtedly, Netflix which is actively looking to strengthen its user base in the International market for some time has set its eyes on the Indian market considering the size and adoption rate of OTT services in the second largest country.
Netflix has 203 million paid streaming subscribers worldwide. The company added nearly 37 million new paid subscribers in 2020. A closer look, however, paints a slightly interesting picture of Netflix growth in term of paid streaming subscribers.
The growth of Netflix paid streaming subscribers is now being driven by the international market as the home market has started signs of saturation. In whole 2020, Netflix added only 6.3 million new paid streaming subscribers from the US & Canada to its total tally. The rest 27 million came from markets outside the US & Canada.
With nearly 10 million addition of paid streaming subscribers in last year, the APAC region has emerged as the new driver of paid subscribers growth for Netflix.
India is the largest market for Netflix outside the US and in the whole of Asia. Netflix is not available in China yet. That’s why Netflix has been trying to strengthen its presence in India as much as to can by luring users with various offers and new plans.
In December Netflix kicked off offered ‘free Netflix for a weekend‘ and ‘streaming fest‘ campaign that allows new users to have the experience of content available on Netflix for free. It helped the OTT player to rope in a million new users in India.
Netflix, which is still the most expensive content streaming OTT player in India has to compete with Disney Hotstar, Zee5, Amazon Prime Video which are offering their yearly subscription at jaw-dropping price when compared with Netflix.
It would now be interesting to see how many new paid subscribers the new Netflix plan will be attracted.
