Decoding Netflix’s Failure In India

Netflix might be a streaming giant in the world but is still a struggling platform in India. It has been more than five years since it made its debut in the sub-continent but is unable to create a huge subscriber base here. Cracking the Indian market in the right way has become frustrating for Netflix officials.

“In every single other major market, we have got the flywheel spinning. The thing that frustrates us is why haven’t we been as successful in India, but we are leaning in there,” said Netflix CEO Reed Hastings in an earnings call for the fourth quarter of 2021.

According to the reports, Netflix has a subscriber base of around 5.5 million in India. This is very less when compared to its competitors like Hotstar and Amazon Prime Video, which enjoy a subscriber base of 46 million and 22 million respectively.

To increase its user base, Netflix reduced the prices of its plans in December 2021. But it is not enough for the company to get a heavy subscriber-ship in the country, opined a few market experts. Netflix needs to focus on some other factors to make itself stay in the Indian competition.

Since the beginning, Netflix has been focusing on Bollywood. They realized the value of the regional market very late. On the flip side, other OTT platforms like Hotstar, Prime Video, and Zee 5 came to know about the importance of the regional market long ago and is catering predominantly in those languages.

In a report, Zee5 stated that most of its viewership comes from the regional market. The same is the case with Hotstar as well. Netflix doesn’t have enough original regional content to lure the people belonging to the market here. Moreover, now various regional OTT platforms have come up, giving a tough competition to this OTT giant.

The other factor that Netflix lacks is sports content. Hotstar, which enjoys the highest subscriber base in India, got so many users mainly because of its sports content. It streams most of the Indian cricket matches live, including the ICC tournaments and the IPL.

Hotstar also streams the major football league, EPL. Sony LIV is another platform that has built its user base through sports content. Now, Prime Video realized the importance of sports streaming and bought the rights of New Zealand’s home cricket matches. Netflix also needs to stream live sports content to increase its subscribers.

Reportedly, Netflix is not giving up on the country yet and is planning to come up with large content and unique strategies to crack the Indian market. It has to be seen if it succeeds or not.