Popular on-demand video streaming services in India that offer on-demand Bollywood and regional language entertainment. You can access these anytime, anywhere, on most Internet-connected screens – mobile, web, and TV.
Amazon Prime On-demand Video Streaming Services
E-commerce giant Amazon recently launched its on-demand video streaming service in India. Amazon Prime video offers a wide variety of film and television content (both International as well as Indian). Prime video will also have lot of exclusive/original content (and will be investing heavily in this area).
Amazon has tied up with several Bollywood producers and other Indian creators to create original content.
The availability of Prime Video is definitely good news for Indians as it gives them lots of options – including quality international content.
Netflix Eyes Expansion in India
Netflix eyes expansion in India, to make Bollywood movies & serials…
Netflix, the world’s largest on-demand streaming service for TV, movies and documentaries – with over 70 million users worldwide – is operational in India. World over, Netflix is what people use to watch movies and TV content on televisions, computers, game consoles, smartphones and more (you need an Internet connection), and now its available to users in India as well.
Now the video-streaming company is also planning to produce Bollywood movies with the objective of grabbing more eyeballs.
“We hope to produce the best Bollywood movie that’s ever been produced. Today, I know that may seem impossible. But there was a time when we couldn’t even produce a US TV series, and now we have some of the best,” Netflix’s CEO said.
So its not just the cable TV companies that need to worry about Netflix, but also production houses in Bollywood.
Film & TV Streaming Services in India Pick Up Pace; Future of Entertainment is Here
Advantages of On-Demand entertainment
There’s a reason why many think that on-demand video is going to be the future of video entertainment. There are many advantages of on-demand video – its convenient and cheaper to watch at home than at theatres, in fact you can watch it anywhere or on any smart device, you can choose from a wide range of content, and the movies are free from those annoying commercials.
Prerequisites to Watch Content
You basically need only an Internet connection, and then you’re ready to enjoy video content on a wide range of devices, including personal computers, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs and game consoles. You will get the best possible streaming quality (depending on the available bandwidth though).
Here we take a look at the major film & video streaming services available in India.
Netflix
The biggest of them all, and offers hi-quality streaming over a wide range of devices. Netflix offers a wide variety of Western films, documentaries and TV shows, a small selection of Indian films is also available. However, this is just the beginning and you can expect more content for the Indian users going ahead. Netflix’s catalogue of India movies is also expected to grow once it gets into partnerships with local production houses.
“With the help of the internet, we are putting power in consumers’ hands to watch whenever, wherever and on whatever device,” said a Netflix executive.
Monthly subscriptions start at Rs 500 (first month is free as part of their promotions). For a few hundred rupee more, you can also view Ultra HD or 4K content (internet bandwidth permitting).
Who are its Competitors?
While Netflix is much bigger compared to Indian services and offers great quality and depth of Western content, in terms of India content, it has less to offer in film and TV content, compared to Eros Now, Big Flix and Sony Liv who offer substantial Indian movie catalogues, including Bollywood and regional films.
Big Flix
Part of the Reliance Entertainment venture but haven’t been promoted that aggressively yet. Offers a god mix of Hindi and regional films, with decent number of latest blockbusters. However, it lacks TV content as of now.
Eros Now
Eros Now is probably the only other offering that could probably give some serious competition to Netflix; you may call it the Indian version of Netflix. And when it comes to Indian content – TV, films, videos, nothing even comes close to it. You can find movies by genre, popularity and even year.
Eros Now is available not just in India, but over hundred countries around the world. ‘Eros Now’ streams high definition content, with English and Arabic subtitles, and includes several, high quality original drama series.
Eros management is quite excited about the future and believe that the change can push Eros Now past Netflix Inc. (at least in number of users). However, unlike Netflix, which is more of an aggregator of content, Eros owns all of its content, consisting mainly of Bollywood films and music.
Also Read: Eros International: Leading film producer and distributor
Sony LIV
Owned by Sony India, Sony LIV offers a great mix of Indian content – TV, Hindi & regional movies (as well as music), also has a wide selection of English movies. Its great for sports ass well.
Ditto TV
From the Zee network, Ditto TV offers a good mix of live TV and on-demand Indian content, with a good collection of new and classic films.
Hooq
Interested in western content, and looking for an alternative to Netflix, you could checkout Singapore-based Hooq. Good western content and okay collection of Indian films.
Hotstar
This is a jack-of-all-trades on-demand service, offers a bit of everything – Western and Indian TV and film, sports and even some original content. The good thing is that Hotstar is free, the bad thing is that the content comes with lots of ads.
WYNK Movies
Wynk Movies is from Airtel and its more of an aggregation app that pulls content from various other services – Nothing good about it as of now.
