India: Netflix offers free weekend
December 4, 2020
By Chris Forrester
On December 5th and 6th viewers in India can watch all of Netflix’s content free of charge as part of a ‘Streamfest’ promotional weekend to encourage more subscribers.
This is the first-ever such event anywhere on the planet and designed to see Netflix’s current 5 million or so subscribers (as stated by Media Partners Asia) grow. However, there;’s a mountain to climb as its rivals Amazon Prime Video already registers around 17 million while Disney+, thanks to its acquisition of local OTT service Hotstar, counts more than 25 million.
India has long been a hot target market for Netflix. Back in 2018 Netflix boss Reed Hastings said the country could represent 100 million subscribers for the streamer.
Netflix is already offering a ‘bargain basement’ mobile-only service for 199 Rupees (€2.22) a month, which is half what its rival charge. Netflix is also working closely with Reliance Jio, the successful cellular service from Reliance.