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Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.80) mobile-only monthly plan in India

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Re: Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.80) mobile-only monthly plan in India

#91
post #58

I've said this here before (though some seem to have disliked it). The Netflix UX and video quality are leagues ahead of Amazon Prime Video. Hotstar is a big laggard and far, far behind in every single aspect except for the amount of Indian content it has. India is a highly price sensitive country, with absolutely no customer loyalty in most industry sectors. Nothing can beat free (which is where Hotstar is stuck, co…

> While most are not worth watching

I don’t know man https://youtu.be/q8vr0jVHU8Q?t=205

Re: Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.80) mobile-only monthly plan in India

#93

Is saying, "the mass consumer market remains value-conscious" just a polite way of saying that Indians don't feel like wasting their hard earned money when pirating is easy? Or is it that regular priced Netflix is a large enough portion of a normal Indian's income that they don't feel like they get enough to watch for their money? Most of the people I know in America basically shrug off the price of Netflix as the co…

I think your second interpretation looks right. Media has this rather irritating habit of not simply saying that "Most people can't afford" these services. Instead they come up with bullshit like "value-conscious", "value/price-sensitive" "hard negotiator/bargain hunter" etc.

Poverty/Income level topics are reserved for UN or WHO type reports and research papers.

Regarding 'piracy vs content for money' I'd add in Indian context it is same thing. People pirate not because high idealism like "content wants to be free" but mainly because most people can't afford any better. If one reverse argument and say people will stop pirating if content is conveniently available like via netflix it will still not work because even 2 dollar/month is too expensive for people who would rather have rented pirated DVD for 5-10 cents and multiple families watch together.

Re: Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.80) mobile-only monthly plan in India

#94
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hope to see those prices also in Europe

Id be interested to know if the downvoters think you're morally wrong, or whether they think its just never going to happen. I'm reminded of a court case in the UK between Tesco and Levis. Tesco were importing Levis from the US where they retailed and presumably wholesaled for much less than in Europe, but were forced to stop distribution due to trademark rules. I wonder if you could avoid that by reselling debranded…

Not a downvoter, but I'm guessing it's the "never gonna happen."

Kind of ridiculous to believe otherwise.

Re: Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.80) mobile-only monthly plan in India

#95

"Indian consumer market remains value-conscious" - this is the most important point here. But 200rs per month too seems very expensive. I'm not sure how this will play out. Let's see. Hotstar has been killing it. They have the massive advantage of streaming live sports, especially IPL and other cricket matches. I think Netflix will become the next Apple in India. They gotta think like an Indian company and not as an…

>> I think Netflix will become the next Apple in India. They gotta think like an Indian company and not as an American company!

Whats the difference between thinking like an Indian company vs an American company? You got me curious.

>> Hotstar has been killing it. They have the massive advantage of streaming live sports, especially IPL and other cricket matches.

I take it they are funding it with ads? Do you think they will fund everything with ads long term or are they just buying time to build market share before converting to a subscription model?

Re: Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.80) mobile-only monthly plan in India

#96

480p streaming which this plan offers will look absolutely pathetic in most Android phones (by this time has 98-99% share in India) which boast ever increasing screen resolutions. So I bet this plan has no takers for people who love beautiful resolutions on their phones which cost sub $300.

People who love beautiful resolution in India will be about same percentage point of people who love flying in chartered plane in US. So Netflix plan will likely work fine for target customer base.

Re: Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.80) mobile-only monthly plan in India

#97
post #58

I've said this here before (though some seem to have disliked it). The Netflix UX and video quality are leagues ahead of Amazon Prime Video. Hotstar is a big laggard and far, far behind in every single aspect except for the amount of Indian content it has. India is a highly price sensitive country, with absolutely no customer loyalty in most industry sectors. Nothing can beat free (which is where Hotstar is stuck, co…

Let me preface this by admitting that I'm a very poor judge of video quality since I generally think those 720p/700MB torrent encodes are swell. So I'm going to ignore the matter of video quality; by my awful standards they're both perfectly adequate. I think Amazon has Netflix beat on UX. To search Netflix without using third party tools is a real nightmare. The user interface seems user-hostile, like it's designed…

My biggest complaint about Prime video is the absolutely horrid navigation of TV series.

If I'm browsing a particular genre, say Sci-Fi for example, I'm shown every season of each show, with it's own cover art. This serves to make their selection of shows seem more expansive than it is, which might be the purpose.

And given that they have a fair number of long running series licensed, this means browsing through dozens of the same shows.

I'll qualify all this by saying my experience is limited to the Fire TV interface, as I rarely watch streaming on my PC, but if the interface is that tedious on their own branded experience, I can't imagine the web interface is much better, though I could be way off the mark.

Re: Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.80) mobile-only monthly plan in India

#98

"Indian consumer market remains value-conscious" - this is the most important point here. But 200rs per month too seems very expensive. I'm not sure how this will play out. Let's see. Hotstar has been killing it. They have the massive advantage of streaming live sports, especially IPL and other cricket matches. I think Netflix will become the next Apple in India. They gotta think like an Indian company and not as an…

>> I think Netflix will become the next Apple in India. They gotta think like an Indian company and not as an American company! Whats the difference between thinking like an Indian company vs an American company? You got me curious. >> Hotstar has been killing it. They have the massive advantage of streaming live sports, especially IPL and other cricket matches. I take it they are funding it with ads? Do you think th…

Disney owns Hotstar, so they've got multiple avenues to fund/subsidize it.

Re: Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.80) mobile-only monthly plan in India

#99

"Indian consumer market remains value-conscious" - this is the most important point here. But 200rs per month too seems very expensive. I'm not sure how this will play out. Let's see. Hotstar has been killing it. They have the massive advantage of streaming live sports, especially IPL and other cricket matches. I think Netflix will become the next Apple in India. They gotta think like an Indian company and not as an…

>> I think Netflix will become the next Apple in India. They gotta think like an Indian company and not as an American company! Whats the difference between thinking like an Indian company vs an American company? You got me curious. >> Hotstar has been killing it. They have the massive advantage of streaming live sports, especially IPL and other cricket matches. I take it they are funding it with ads? Do you think th…

>> Whats the difference between thinking like an Indian company vs an American company? You got me curious.

To a first order of approximation, Most american products are tailored towards "Ease of use", "Batteries included" style. All most all Indian products are focused on claiming cheapest cost at the cost expense of convenience.

Re: Netflix launches Rs 199 ($2.80) mobile-only monthly plan in India

#100
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I rant every time this comes up. I've cancelled solely because of this annoying feature. The Amazon Video app on my Roku may not be as slick, but at least it doesn't force me to mute my TV when I'm browsing through the selections.

I bet they A/B tested that feature and decided users loved it because their metrics did not reveal how many users were muting their televisions. Maybe on Smart TVs they know, but perhaps not if that smart TV is hooked up to an external sound system.

They were also looking at “engagement metrics” most likely.

“Look, users browse twice as much and engage with content” which in reality is “users scroll past as fast as they can or try to press pause”

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