Netflix holds firm on India sub prices
November 12, 2018
By Chris Forrester
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings insisted that the OTT broadcaster will not be reducing prices for its India subscribers.
Hastings, talking to Reuters, said the current pricing regime – 500 rupees (€6.13) for a basic plan, 650 rupees for a standard plan and 800 rupees for premium – were already lower than those charged in the US.
Hastings said: “we see the typical mix across these three plans that we see in many other countries like the US, which would indicate that we don’t have a pricing issue. Because if it was, everyone would be on the lower price plan.”
When asked directly if that meant the company had no plans for lower prices in India, he said: “Correct” and insisted that India would not get a lower offering. He added that the cost of Netflix in India was “like going to the movie theatre 2-3 tickets a month, but you get to watch a lot more.”
Hastings confirmed that there were now 17 new original productions underway for Asia in general, and 9 of those were targeted specifically for Indian viewing.
Observers locally say that Netflix, while offering high-quality programming, would suffer when measured against similar high-quality output from the likes of HotStar (backed by 21st C Fox), Amazon Prime Studios, and TataSky, all of which were offering lower subscriber rates.