Netflix Launched in India, But will it succeed with low data caps and broadband speeds ?

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

Netflix has officially announced its entry into India and 130 other markets in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. With the move, CEO Reed Hastings said during his CES keynote address on Wednesday, Netflix is now available in "all major countries" of the world "except China", something he hopes will change soon.

 

Plans for the on-demand TV, movies, and video streaming powerhouse - now available in 190 countries - start in India at Rs. 500 per month for access on 1 SD screen. For Rs. 650 per month you can watch HD content on 2 screens at a time, and Rs. 800 per month will get you 4K content on up to 4 screens simultaneously.

 

Netflix declined to comment on its plans but industry executives told Reuters they expect an India announcement as early as this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where co-founder and Chief Executive Reed Hastings is scheduled to talk about the company's international expansion.

 

BUT, here's the bottleneck

 

Most Indian Internet users go online via smartphones, which are increasingly capable of connecting to the latest, fourth-generation network (4G) which cuts streaming times considerably. 

 

The challenge is convincing Indians to spend, analysts said. Netflix's average revenue per user (ARPU) in the third quarter was $25.29 in the United States and $21.59 abroad.
 

In India, where a movie can cost 29 rupees (44 cents) and monthly subscriptions are as little as 200 rupees, analysts expect ARPUs to be a fraction of that.

 

Will Indians with slow Internet speeds and small data caps be able to use Netflix?

This is the million-dollar question that will decide the success or failure of Netflix within the country and indeed the fate of online streaming as a whole in India. Slow Internet speeds and small data caps (also known as ‘fair usage policy’  limits) have limited the growth of movie and TV show streaming in India.
 

For instance, Netflix recommends that its users need a minimum of 0.5 Megabits per second for broadband connection speed and an Internet speed of 5 Mbps if users want to stream movies and TV shows in HD quality.

 

When it comes to data usage, Netflix currently offers four different types of data usage: low (0.3GB used per hour), Medium, (0.7 GB per hour) and high (up to 3GB per hour for HD quality video streaming).

 

This means that people with an Internet connection speed of 1Mbps or 2Mbps and with a data cap of 40 to 50 GB, which is roughly the average in India will find it difficult to use Netflix heavily. Watching a handful of movies and TV shows could eat up a little over half of a user’s data cap, make them quickly hit their FUP limit, and have their Internet speeds reduced to a piddly 512 Kbps.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

• Netflix’s monthly plans are priced at Rs 500, Rs 650 and Rs 800

• HD and Ultra HD content available in Indian market

• Slow internet speeds in most cities except metros may become obstacle for Netflix

 

 

Another bottleneck

 

Although the exact number of titles available for Netflix India users still hasn’t be released, a quick perusal by The Wire shows that the Indian catalogue is currently lacking when compared to its U.S or Canada counterpart. While all of Netflix’s original shows such as House of Cards, Narcos, Marvel’s Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and Master of None are available, some of the more well-known TV shows that are cult classics in India such as Friends are currently not available.

 

While there is more than enough to entice customers to sign up for the one month free trial, what is truly important is how quickly Netflix is able to bid for titles that are part of its global catalogue and add them to their India country-specific selection. Adding more titles over the next six months is vital.

 

Will Netflix be able to force Indians to stop pirating?

 

As always, it becomes a question of opportunity cost: a majority of Indians undoubtedly believe that with data caps of up to 100 GB, it’s supremely easy to log onto an illegal torrent website and download their favourite movies and TV shows for free. Netflix and the online streaming industry has to compete with that; to show Indian consumers that logging onto the website and picking a movie to quickly stream is much better than rummaging through a number of ‘CAM RIP’ and ‘DVD RIP” torrents.

 

What may sway the balance in favour of Netflix and other video streaming websites is the process of discovery. How will Indians find the best movie and TV shows? While big hits such as A Game of Thrones are social media sensations and easy to identify, as Indians slowly start exploring their niche interests, they may find that online streaming companies and not torrent websites offer a better answer.

 

because as of now, none of the TV shows i want to watch that are not Netflix originals is not on netflix, well shit...  People have to understand Govt of India Censors everything, there can never be nudity or swear words on any show/movie, so what you see on HBO india is censored Game of thrones where all the scenes that involve nudity have been edited out and swear words have been muted, So, no, this won't stop people from pirating game of thrones unless netflix can actually deliver other shows that are not produced by netflix and can actually deliver uncensored content, because if it is, then why the hell would i pay for something that's censored anyway ? 

 

(i'm not joking, i didn't even know Dexter was R rated until i saw a pirated copy of season 5, never had a clue as what i watched in television was a censored PG content of Dexter)

 

Source : http://www.digit.in/tvs/netflix-officially-launched-in-india-28536.html

 

[Exty]

it also launched in Lithuania

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

it also launched in Lithuania

yes that was the first words on this post  "Netflix has officially announced its entry into India and 130 other markets in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe", i'm just speaking of India as its a country of over 1.7 bill people and a huge market. 

[Sammael]

yes that was the first words on this post  "Netflix has officially announced its entry into India and 130 other markets in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe", i'm just speaking of India as its a country of over 1.7 bill people and a huge market. 

 

 

What about you since you're in india.  Do you have home broadband or is it all through mobile data?  If the latter what kind of data caps are you dealing with?

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

What about you since you're in india.  Do you have home broadband or is it all through mobile data?  If the latter what kind of data caps are you dealing with?

 

all the points addressed on the main post. would be glad if people stopped derailing a thread. 

[Sammael]

all the points addressed on the main post. would be glad if people stopped derailing a thread. 

 

 

You mentioned the average constraints, I asked about your situation.  So sensitive, you must be constrained by the average or worse.

 

Anyway, it will constrain netflix usage, but it will also put pressure and incentives on ISPs to increase or remove caps and increase broadband speeds.  I never bought the argument that a service like netflix should be delayed until the internet infrastructure had way more capacity to support it without issues.  It's is services like netflix and youtube (which I'm sure already eats up a ton of data for the indian population) that drive the desire and incentive for faster broadband.  If you have projects to build out broadband, you should encourage elected officials to ok projects to increase capacity and companies to start expanding hard line broadband if the mobile pathways are too saturated.  If the hard line pathways are non existent, then start building them.

[Rohith_Kumar_Sp]

Anyway, it will constrain netflix usage, but it will also put pressure and incentives on ISPs to increase or remove caps and increase broadband speeds.  I never bought the argument that a service like netflix should be delayed until the internet infrastructure had way more capacity to support it without issues.  It's is services like netflix and youtube (which I'm sure already eats up a ton of data for the indian population) that drive the desire and incentive for faster broadband.  If you have projects to build out broadband, you should encourage elected officials to ok projects to increase capacity and companies to start expanding hard line broadband if the mobile pathways are too saturated.  If the hard line pathways are non existent, then start building them.

all of them are corrupted, there is no place for  honest politician and even if he does, he's uneducated and has no idea about technology, 90% of politicians in India have never completed their education in schools, so electing in India is like selecting the least poisonous snake to get bit to, talking about data caps and speeds this is my broadband speed

[Toddwjp]

Indian internet is terrible and tbh i dont see it getting better with how corrupt there government is and how split there society is in terms of wealth 

[Sammael]

all of them are corrupted, there is no place for  honest politician and even if he does, he's uneducated and has no idea about technology, 90% of politicians in India have never completed their education in schools, so electing in India is like selecting the least poisonous snake to get bit to, talking about data caps and speeds this is my broadband speed

 

 

Wow, I didn't know it was that bad.  That's worse than my sprint service when I drop down to 3g.  Well, hope springs eternal, there must be some pockets of india with faster internet, and I think the key will be wired broadband.  Let it be a magnet for people around india to travel to and leave the slower internet locations behind.  It will take time, but things will improve.  Better to have broadband heavy content light more of a fire than leave it as is.  It might make the desire to move and improve just a little bit stonger.

[ExESGO]

Nevermind found a thread, and wow, that internet connection. I thought mine was bad.

[kameshss]

I remember Airtel once announced their Broadband TV service, those who subscribe that service, will be receiving 2 to 4 Mbps speed, Just for the specific service. It was 99 per month.

 

I guess Airtel will do something about Netflix. (yeah throttle the speeds, ha ha!!)