Netflix has become one of the most popular streaming services in India. However, there has been a big divide between the people who want to binge on the Netflix shows and have not been on the platform yet, and that has to do with the price that Netflix requires them to pay. Now while Netflix has been known to come with some of the most loved originals, series, documentaries and movies, the subscription of the service has been considered to be costly by many, especially from the Indian viewers’ perspective. To solve this issue for the Indian viewers, Netflix launched a new mobile-only plan a few months back to make its subscription more affordable for the audiences who were binging on their phones. This mobile-only plan from Netflix cost only Rs 199 per month to the subscribers, and as per a ET Telecom report it seems that the plan might have exceeded Netflix’s expectations in India about its uptake.
Netflix Mobile-Only Plan Exceeds Expectations
Netflix Chief Product Officer Greg Peter, in a post-earnings interview, said that Netflix is going to be looking at other pricing plans as well depending on different market conditions for other markets which will work there. However, Peter did not disclose further information as to what these new pricing plans could be like. It is worth noting that Netflix’s Rs 199 per month plan for the Indian viewers was the cheapest one that it offered across the world in all the countries where Netflix is offered, despite that, Netflix remains one of the more premium services in India which has been known to come with a high ticket subscription. Apart from the mobile-only plan from Netflix, the service also offers other plans which start from Rs 499 and go as high as Rs 799 per month and offer features like multiple users, more screens and higher streaming quality.
Netflix Likely to Target Other Geographies With Such Plans
To recall, before actually launching the plan in the country for a widespread uptake, Netflix had conducted a pilot of this plan for select users. Now, the company has said that the performance of this mobile-only plan has exceeded what Netflix’s previous estimates about how it’s performance would be were. As per Netflix’s present plans now, the service will use similarly priced plans with the mobile-only feature to grow its presence in the markets where the situation is similar to India. Netflix had also piloted the mobile-only plan in other geographies like Malaysia and others back in last November before its India launch.
Netflix Also Has Serious Competition Ahead in Upcoming Months
Peters said, "We think about revenue as a guiding principle for us. We do these different tests and try to figure out what is the right set of plans that have the right benefits, the right features that are delivered at the right price for the subscribers in any given market.” It is also noteworthy that Netflix currently depends a lot on the international market subscriptions for its further growth as the company added 6.3 million paid subscribers from the international markets as compared to only half a million paid subscribers in its home country, USA. Currently, Netflix has a paid subscriber base of 158.3 million.
In the coming days, Netflix expects to add 26.7 million subscribers at the end of this year. The service will also face competition from two new major players Disney and Apple, both of whom are ready to kickstart their content services in November.
