Amazon pushes Bollywood button to get more Prime customers in India

Amazon has signed a long term deal with Karan Johar's production outfit to bring latest Bollywood movies to its Prime customers, the premium service that it is building in India to lock in customers and take on local rival Flipkart.

In the US, Amazon has been able to get nearly half of all households to subscribe to Prime, which offers exclusive movies and shows, quick deliveries at no cost and early access to deals. These customers spend $1,100 on an average, twice as much as a normal user to buy goods on its e-commerce platform.

Amazon is looking at replicating this model in India as it expands its presence in the country and attempt to overtake local rival Flipkart. In this attempt, Amazon will also compete with Netflix, which has launched its services in India and Hotstar, the streaming service of Star India.

It also has cut a similar deal with Mahesh and Mukesh Bhatt owned Vishesh films.

"We have kept a close eye on the explosion of digital media, and the increased consumption trends of Bollywood content on Video-On-Demand and OTT Platforms", said Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Dharma Productions, in a statement. "We at Dharma felt that the time couldn't be more right for us to mark our presence on such sought after platforms."

Apart from making available on its platform upcoming movies from Dharma Productions, Amazon Prime Video will also feature previously released films from the production house.

Amazon, Netflix and Hotstar are all looking to tap the growing base of Internet users in India to sell content to on a subscription model. While Netflix charges Rs 499 for its base plan in India, rival Amazon will charge double that, while also giving subscribers access to free one and two-day shipping for products they buy on its e-commerce platform and access to exclusive deals.

Amazon is also looking at similar partnerships with film and television producers and are also working with artists and producers for exclusive content on their platforms.

The firm has also poached Tamagna Ghosh, who headed Creative Marketing Services at Walt Disney Studios in the position of Creative Director. "Would be championing the creation of creative assets for some of the award winning Amazon US Originals and exclusive Amazon India Originals soon," Ghosh has written on his LinkedIn account.

Providing local content has been driver even for the world's most valuable company Apple. It has launched a Rs 120 per month music streaming service Apple Music to woo more customers in India, its next big market for its flagship iPhone.

With Internet penetration on the rise and a large base of India's population not having access to cable television yet, on-demand streaming services are expected to make a huge impact in the country.

Further, for film and television producers, services such as Netflix provide them an opportunity to earn revenues which might have otherwise been lost to piracy.