Bard of Blood was just like a 1970s potboiler riding on filminess Selection Day didn’t make an impact, despite strong reviews for its second season. Yet, it takes just a glance at reviews on social media to understand that most of Netflix India’s original content has been disappointing. Jamtara, the latest Indian original, has earned initial positive reviews and doesn’t boast of big names or budget.Īlso read: Can Netflix India counter the challenge from cheaper Amazon Prime, Hotstar, ALTBalaji? Ironically, two of its much-loved Indian originals, Soni and Delhi Crime, do not feature big stars but focus on relevant Indian stories.
It looked like Netflix India was here to make a difference by making differentiated content.Ī spurt of fiction series and films with star-backing has popped up on their upcoming-slate ( Mai, co-produced by Anushka Sharma a zombie army show by SRK’s Red Chillies and Masaba Masaba) as well. Little Things, a show created by Dice Media, was acquired by Netflix as an ‘original’. It also gave the occasional nod to the free-spirited ‘indie’ idea, be it in the form of films or series.
In 2019, the giant positioned itself as the leader in original content by advertising its 10 films with 10 top Hindi filmmakers.īy working closely with Karan Johar and his production company, Dharma Productions, and by collaborating on content with Anurag Kashyap and Phantom Films, Netflix extended its wide, money-filled arms to embrace big (Bollywood) faces. This is visibly different from Netflix India’s strategy.Īlso read: Netflix price cuts are heating up India’s streaming warįor the past couple of years, courting media photo ops and hobnobbing with big names in Bollywood has been the key strategy for Netflix India. It markets itself as THE destination for content creators. Starring promising newbie Sunny Kaushal in the lead, its trailer lives up to the platform’s promise of cinematic quality in long-form finite fiction. Their latest offering, The Forgotten Army – Azaadi Ke Liye by Kabir Khan, has been in the making for three years. Of course, Prime Video also has populist fluff like Inside Edge, and acquisitions like Hostel Daze from comedy channel TVF, but their content is varied and resonant. This strategy, with successes like Made in Heaven and A Family Man and the intelligently comic One Mic Stand has brought the streaming platform consistent viewership and more importantly, peer approval. While stars and relevant writers and filmmakers feature in its line-up too, Prime Video’s focus has been on the content, not just faces and social media hype.
(The company has not released specifics of its subscription and viewership in India for 2019). Instead, Amazon’s Prime Video, which has been steadily creating original pan-Indian content, has built a slate of engaging shows and series in Hindi, Tamil and Telegu.
The bigger question is, does the Indian original-content backed by Netflix India live up to the global standards? Do Indian viewers like these shows enough to keep watching them, or to return to them later? Are viewers across the world watching these shows/films?Īlso read: Modi to Netflix to smartphones: What changed India most in the last decade? Given this benchmark, it is no surprise that a show featuring Emraan Hashmi, a Bollywood favourite of the past, and a film featuring Abhay Deol get two minutes of curiosity viewing. These included Bard of Blood, Delhi Crime and Chopsticks.īut data can be misleading. Netflix ranks the popularity of its shows based on the criteria of at least two minutes spent on the content in the first 28 days of its release on the platform. In fact, according to the data released end-2019, Netflix’s consumption pattern in India showed that seven out of their top 10 most-watched content were home originals. In 2019, as per regulatory filings, the streaming giant’s total income in India grew eight times in 2018-2019 riding high on season 2 of Sacred Games. Streaming platforms in India are fiercely competitive and Netflix leads the chase for the biggest viewership numbers. It seems counterintuitive, but in the race for Indian content, Amazon’s Prime Video seems to have an edge over Netflix.