Tata Play and Amazon Prime Collaborate to Offer Prime Benefits to Viewers Across TV and OTT
● As part of its DTH & Binge packs, Tata Play will offer Prime Lite subscription which provides access to Prime Video’s extensive content library, as well as free unlimited same day delivery across 1M+ products and next day delivery across 4M+ products on Amazon
● Prime Lite with Tata Play is available on TV packs starting at INR 199 per month on Tata Play DTH
● On Tata Play Binge, viewers can enjoy benefits of Prime Lite with Tata Play, along with 6 other OTT apps, through new packs starting at INR 199 per month
MUMBAI, India—May 14, 2024— Leading content distribution platform, Tata Play, has joined hands with Amazon Prime to offer Tata Play DTH and Tata Play Binge customers multiple ways to access Prime Video’s blockbuster content. Tata Play DTH subscribers can now choose from multiple packs starting from INR 199 per month, that offer a variety of their favourite TV channels along with Prime Lite with Tata Play. In addition, Binge subscribers can enjoy Prime Lite with Tata Play along with 30+ other popular apps at various price points. At INR 199 per month, users can subscribe to 6 OTT apps, including Prime Video, from a list of 33 apps, or can subscribe to all 33, including Prime Video at INR 349 per month.
The new price plans from Tata Play Binge put the freedom of choice in the hands of its audience to make their own OTT packs. Prime Video’s addition to the league of 30+ national, international, and regional apps on Tata Play Binge aims to further elevate content bingeing into an even more indulgent experience, all in one convenient location across languages, genres, and devices.
This extensive collaboration between Tata Play and Amazon Prime is dedicated to offering comprehensive value to the customers, ensuring they enjoy video, shipping and shopping benefits. Consumers can enjoy the full selection of amazing shows and movies on Prime Video including the highly popular Original series like Panchayat, Mirzapur, The Family Man, Dhootha, Inspector Rishi, Farzi, Dahaad, Made in Heaven, Indian Police Force, Suzhal – The Vortex, Dil Dosti Dilemma, Poacher, among others, blockbuster movies like Pathaan, Jailer, Ponniyin Selvan I & II, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, Tiger 3, Kantara, Mast Mein Rehne Ka, Maja Ma, Bawaal, Pippa, Captain Miller, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya, and many more, along with international series and movies like Fallout, Citadel, The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power, The Idea of You, The Boys, Jack Ryan, Reacher, to name a few. This is in addition to other Prime Lite benefits like, free unlimited same day delivery across 1M+ products and next day delivery across 4M+ products, prime early access & exclusive deals and 5% cashback on Amazon Pay ICICI Bank Credit Card while on shopping on Amazon.
“While on the one hand, Tata Play’s robust content distribution network will help in expanding Amazon Prime’s outreach to newer audience segments, on the other, addition of Prime Lite Membership with Tata Play will make Binge a more compelling proposition,”
– said Harit Nagpal, Managing Director and CEO, Tata Play, on this first-of-its-kind partnership.
“At Prime Video, our mission is to super-serve our customers with the best of entertainment, and we are constantly looking at ways to strengthen our distribution to ensure wider availability of our much-loved movies and series,”
– said Gaurav Gandhi, vice president, APAC & MENA, Prime Video. “The collaboration with Tata Play provides its DTH and digital customers seamless access to Prime Video’s full selection of content, as well as Prime Lite benefits like unlimited free shopping & shipping of ‘Same-day/Next-Day’ delivery, Prime exclusive deals and much more. We look forward to working with Tata Play to make premium entertainment even more accessible to customers in India.”
Amazon Prime and Tata Play – Plans & Benefits |
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DTH Packs and Prime Lite with Tata Play |
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Prime Lite with Tata Play Binge |
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In addition to the above new plans, DTH customers can also subscribe to the annual subscription of Amazon Prime through Tata Play DTH at an attractive limited time introductory offer, and gain access to Prime Video, free shipping/ shopping benefits, Amazon Music, Prime Reading, Prime Gaming etc., and access through 5 devices.
About Tata Play
Tata Play Limited (formerly known as Tata Sky Limited) was incorporated in 2001. It commenced its DTH operations in 2006. Tata Play is a part of the TATA Group. It is the market leader in the DTH category as per revenue for Fiscal 2022 and is one of India’s leading content distribution platforms providing Pay TV and OTT services.
Tata Play Limited launched PVR (Personal Video Recorder) technology in 2008. This was followed by the launch of Hindi Programming Guide, Video-On-Demand services, DIY video library and Smart Guide feature that personalizes content recommendation on TV. Tata Play
VOD library allows subscribers access to over 3000 titles. Tata Play mobile app enables on- the-go viewing experience from linear channels, remote recording facility on HD-PVR set top boxes and offers TVOD model for movies.
Tata Play has more than 40 platform services that are available at an additional monthly fee. New broadcast channels and platform services across genres and languages get added to the DTH offering regularly to enrich the entertainment needs of the audiences.
In 2019, Tata Play forayed into OTT aggregation with the introduction of Tata Play Binge. Tata play Binge is a unique platform that brings diverse and popular OTT apps on a single user interface while providing the benefit of single subscription and single payment. It can be
accessed through the Tata Play edition of Amazon Fire TV Stick, Tata Play Binge+ Smart set top box powered by Android TV and Tata Play Binge mobile app. Access to Tata Play Binge mobile app does not require Tata Play DTH connection and is available for download on all smartphones.
Tata Play has made entertainment further convenient and consumer friendly with the introduction of Tata Play Binge Combos – an inventive bundled offering that brings the best of direct-to-home channels and OTT apps in one integrated pack for the subscribers.
Tata Play has invested in advanced digital infrastructure to provide superior technology services and offerings. It has 24×7 high-end call centers in 12 languages across the country, manned by multi-lingual customer service associates to offer professional and efficient customer service.
Tata Play has PAN-India footprint, with more than 22 million connections.
TATA® and TATA PLAY® are registered trademarks of Tata Sons Private Limited, used under License
by Tata Play Limited.
ABOUT AMAZON PRIME
Amazon Prime is designed to make your life better every single day as it provides the best of shopping, savings, and entertainment in one single membership. In India, members get free same day delivery across 1M+ products and next day delivery across 4M+ products, unlimited 5% cashback on all purchases using their co-branded ICICI credit card, access to exclusive deals, early and exclusive access to our shopping events including Prime Day. Amazon Prime also provides unlimited access to award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime Video, unlimited access to more than 100 million songs, ad-free and over 15 million podcast episodes with Amazon Music, a free rotating selection of more than 3,000 e-books, magazines and comics with Prime Reading and access to the monthly free-in game content and benefits with Prime Gaming. Visit amazon.in/prime to join Prime now.
ABOUT PRIME VIDEO
Prime Video is a premium streaming service that offers Prime members a collection of award-winning Amazon Originals, thousands of movies and TV shows—all with the ease of finding what they love to watch in one place.
Prime Video is just one of the many benefits of a Prime membership, available for just ₹1499/ year. Amazon Prime is designed to make your life better every single day as it provides the best of shopping, savings, and entertainment in one single membership. In India, members get Free Same-day/1-day delivery on eligible items, access to exclusive deals, early access to shopping events, exclusive access to our global shopping event Prime Day; and unlimited access to award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime Video, unlimited access to more than 100 million songs, ad-free and millions of podcast episodes with Amazon Music, a free rotating selection of more than 3,000 books, magazines and comics with Prime Reading, access to monthly free-in game and benefits with Prime Gaming. Prime members can also earn unlimited 5% cashback on all purchases on Amazon.in using the Amazon Pay ICICI Bank credit card i.e., Co-Branded Credit Card (CBCC) as compared to 3% for customers without Prime membership. Go to www.amazon.in/prime to learn more about Prime.
● Included with Prime Video: Thousands of acclaimed TV shows and movies across languages and geographies, including Indian films such as Shershaah, Soorarai Pottru, Sardar Udham, Bawaal, Gehraiyaan, Jai Bhim, Jalsa, Shakuntala Devi, Sherni, Narappa, Sarpatta Parambarai, Kuruthi, Joji, Malik, Pippa and #HOME, along with Indian-produced Amazon Original series like Indian Police Force, Farzi, The Family Man, Mirzapur, Dhootha, Jubilee, Dahaad, Made in Heaven, Panchayat, Jee Karda, Adhura, Four More Shots Please!, Mumbai Diaries, Suzhal – The Vortex, Sweet Kaaram Coffee, Modern Love, Paatal Lok, Bandish Bandits, Cinema Marte Dum Tak, AP Dhillon: First of a Kind, Rainbow Rishta, Wedding.con, Mission Start Ab and Amazon Original movies like Maja Ma, Ammu, Mast Mein Rehne Ka, among others. Also included are popular global Originals like Citadel, The Lord of The Rings: The Rings of Power, Reacher, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, The Boys, Hunters, Fleabag, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Wheel of Time and many more, available for unlimited streaming as part of a Prime membership. Prime Video includes content across Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi, and Bengali.
● Instant Access: Prime Members can watch anywhere, anytime on the Prime Video app for smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire TV stick, Fire tablets, Apple TV, and multiple gaming devices. Prime Video is also available to consumers through Airtel and Vodafone pre-paid and post-paid subscription plans. In the Prime Video app, Prime members can download episodes on their mobile devices and tablets and watch anywhere offline at no additional cost.
● Enhanced experiences: Make the most of every viewing with 4K Ultra HD- and High Dynamic Range (HDR)-compatible content. Go behind the scenes of your favourite movies and TV shows with exclusive X-Ray access, powered by IMDb. Save it for later with select mobile downloads for offline viewing.
● Video Entertainment Marketplace: In addition to a Prime Video subscription, customers can also purchase add-on subscriptions to other streaming services, as well as, get rental access to movies on Prime Video.
● Prime Video Channels: Prime Video Channels offers friction-free and convenient access to a wide range of premium content from multiple video streaming services all available at a single destination – Prime Video website and apps. Prime Members can buy add-on subscriptions and enjoy a hassle-free entertainment experience, simplified discovery, frictionless payments, and more.
● Rent: Consumers can enjoy even more movies from new releases to classic favourites, available to rent – no Prime membership required. View titles available by visiting primevideo.com/store. The rental destination can be accessed via the STORE tab on primevideo.com and the Prime Video app on Android smart phones, smart-TVs, connected STBs, and Fire TV stick.
Netflix Striving to Expand Ad-Supported Format Reach and Appeal
Netflix is admitting that it still has ways to go in order to scale the necessary advertising reach and subscriber size with its ad-supported model. It claims that by taking a customer-focused approach and providing advanced features to advertisers, they may ultimately surpass competitor streaming services in the advertising market. Netflix suggests that its ad-supported tier serves as a backup plan for users who express dissatisfaction with price increases. It seems that the streaming behemoth believes its competitors are doing advertising incorrectly. Some of its streaming competitors haven’t yet done as well in creating an advertisement-friendly environment.
Netflix wants to educate consumers about the ad-supported tier
According to Netflix, part of its mission is to inform customers about what to expect from their Netflix advertisements. This allows people to consider what, given their unique tastes, would be the best decision for them. The secret is to use the data collected as more people use the ad-supported tier to build models and capabilities that minimize repetition and intrusiveness while delivering relevant ads and a tailored experience.
Insights on new subscribers to ad-supported plans
Some reports state that new customers to the ad-supported plans see four minutes or less of advertising every hour, whilst those who cancel and re-up only view 60 seconds or less. This is before the amount of ad time is progressively increased once more. Resulting in rumors that a sophisticated method of desensitizing ad-verse consumers is part of Netflix’s educational process. However, since last May, six months after the plan’s introduction, when the business claimed to have drawn close to 5 million sign-ups worldwide, Netflix has not made available the precise number of with-ad members. According to reports from July, out of over 75 million Netflix members in the United States, 1.5 million of them were using the advertising plan.
Read More: Meta Contemplates Ad-Free Subscriptions, Targeting Indian Market
Netflix’s Ad Formats Expansion
Netflix announced the start of title sponsorships for seasons, series, and new domestic live sports events in addition to the growth of its ad formats. It includes the addition of a binge format, as part of its effort to realize that potential. Apart from introducing ad buys for its top 10 content selection, Netflix is collaborating with Microsoft, an ad tech partner, to provide other programmatic ways to access its ad inventory. Future expanded targeting capabilities should be available soon, as improving ad relevance is the first stage.
Challenges Netflix Might Face
Customers who use streaming services aren’t used to any kind of advertisement environment. In the past, cord-cutters sought to save money by forgoing the pricey cable bundle. In the process, they improved their viewing experience by being able to watch content whenever they wanted, without interruptions. Priorities are ranked highest for measurement. Therefore, Netflix is working to give comparable measurement capabilities to service a large list of partners across other nations in addition to launching a measurement relationship with Nielsen in the U.S.
A chance for Netflix
Just one year into their agreement, Netflix started a restructuring of its advertising partnership with Microsoft in July. In order to revitalize the developing area of its business, the streaming juggernaut decided to lower its ad pricing. Netflix leaders within the firm voiced their displeasure with Microsoft’s ad inventory and sales performance. Microsoft was forced to make the maximum amount stipulated in the agreement reached more than a year ago. This was a result of weak sales and a smaller-than-expected ad market. Microsoft had been chosen by Netflix as a partner at the beginning of its advertising business.
Read More: Netflix Removes Password Sharing, What’s It Say For Subscribers?
Publishers at risk by relying on transactional subscription technology
Transactional technology that enables transactional customer relationship is the base of the digital publishing ecosystem for the past two decades. This is how it works- attracting a reader, showing them a headline or a few words or an article, then coming up with a paywall to buy a short subscription package and moving on.
Every potential subscriber is treated as any other e-commerce customer with the same conversion funnel. We have built complex tech- stacks to support this approach and the ad-focused tools and subscription products remain unchanged and operational at certain levels in the digital customer journey. Till now, the flexibility in the customer experience was never a question. The journey was straight, simple, and direct with a single focus -deliver content, monetize on it, and maintain engagement. However, this transactional approach no longer caters to commercial or customer needs.
Lately, people are accustomed to making their own choices- which product is suitable for them, opt for premium or family packages depending on their needs and likes. The growing subscription economy has altered the way a customer perceives their product and services.
A successful recurring relationship is built on personalization when a customer can choose the product or package right for them and leave the rest. Jim Barksdale rightly said, “There are only two ways to make money in business. One is to bundle, the other is to unbundle.”
Businesses should be able to answer important questions like which one to pick, where, and how.
Presently, to answer the questions, publishers are enforced to hack the existing transactional tools and development teams are still investing their efforts on the complex system instead of building new products to grow revenue. Marketing teams want to explore with fine-tune new customers but are hindered by the same old inflexible technology.
Ultimately, publishers suffer badly due to lack of innovation, low ad -yields, complex technology, high costs, and no personalization for consumers. In simple words, the industry’s technology is unfit and outdated and it is worrisome considering the future is about dynamic products and personalization and automation. By relying on transactional technology with all limitations, publishers are at risk, and growth is restricted in this new economy.
Coronavirus led digital publishing growth
With COVID-19, the subscription economy has changed in six weeks which could have taken longer otherwise. The UK’s largest subscription site, iSubscribe witnessed its digital magazine subscription jump 400 % jump in volume. The traffic to the Financial Times website saw a jump of 250% Y-o-Y in the past month. There is an all-time high in the industry conversion rate.
But the question now is, will this continue post coronavirus crisis when the audiences find themselves with subscriptions that are not required?
So what next to sustain this?
Commercial teams need to set up a highly personalized customer journey without reaching to their technical team for help each time. They should independently learn, test, and change a range of products, packages, and revenue models.
This implies publishers should not rely on years of coding experience to handle but need integration of tools across the customer journey- offering personalized outcomes to every potential subscriber. Publishers need tools that don’t require coding to ensure that every client, prospect, and visitor is handled by the organization and the power to build change is in the hands of the specialists who know the market.
The world’s largest publications are using this platform to get ahead of the curve and be ready to steal the thunder once the markets settle -which might not take too long.