Disney considering OTT for India
February 10, 2017
By Chris Forrester
Bob Iger, CEO & Chairman of Walt Disney International, is looking closely at licensing its kids’ content direct to the likes of Netflix and Amazon in India. Iger, talking to analysts in Mumbai, said his local colleagues had recently discussed the possibility of licensing content to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
The OTT giants are reportedly betting heavily on the Indian market, which is witnessing a major transformation in digital content consumption due to the proliferation of smartphones and the launch of 4G services by telecom operators like Reliance Jio, according to a news story in Television Post.
Iger said: “The demand for Disney is huge from the consumer perspective and from a distribution perspective. And again, we’re seeing I think a world where disruption is definitely on the table and real. But it’s not something that we feel is daunting in terms of the task ahead,” he added.
“We’ve seen a decline ratings-wise in kids viewing overall on linear channels. I don’t want to speak for the industry, but I’ll speak for Disney. And I think that’s the result of a couple of things. One, I’ll call it a bit of an off cycle in terms of programming; and two, a proliferation of kids programming in a variety of other places,” he noted.