If you used the Hotstar app in the last week, you probably noticed it running an advertisement for Amazon Prime Video, which arrived in India earlier this month. The two online video streaming services - alongside Netflix - can be regarded as the three biggest properties in the country, so many wondered why Hotstar would promote a rival, with some even wondering if it was a sign of bigger things to come in the form of a deal between the two sites.
Ajit Mohan, CEO of Hotstar, doesn’t seem to be bothered in the slightest. In an interview with Gadgets 360, he said: “For us, it’s pretty straightforward. For any big launch, for any category, I think Hotstar has now become a fairly indispensable platform to advertise on.” He added that as a company, Hotstar is “very keen to partner with those brands, and give them access” to their platform.
That makes sense, given we see even the likes of Flipkart running advertisements for products, but not once have we seen Snapdeal banners on Flipkart, so Hotstar's move seems strange nonetheless, but Mohan is reading from a different playbook.
“I’m not surprised that a big brand launch will reach out to Hotstar, to have presence on [our platform],” he explains. “And second, you know we have a free service supported by advertising, and we’re quite keen that more and more brands leverage that, including Amazon.”
Hotstar has been around in India since February 2015, making it one of the old-guards amongst streaming services. Amazon Prime Video only launched this month, and Netflix arrived at the start of 2016. The service claims 130 million users in total, with its peak viewership of 100 million coming in during the months of April and May, when it streams the Indian Premier League.
And unlike both Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, Hotstar has two different tiers for its users – a free ad-supported service, and a premium model that charges Rs. 199 (Rs. 190 via in-app purchases) a month.
“We’re pretty clear that we’ve established leadership by creating a great experience and having the best content catalogue," he added. "I think we’re pretty confident of retaining that leadership because we know we can keep our advantage on both of these two.”
“If we serve our users well, if we make sure that we’re still offering a great experience and best catalogue, we will continue to maintain our leadership,” Mohan said.
Despite a willingness to work with its rival, Hotstar has proven that it isn't above taking digs at the other streaming services either. Back in July, Netflix wished House of Cards star Kevin Spacey with a billboard in the style of an Indian political poster. Hotstar had done something similar for its new show by AIB, and felt obliged to point this out on Twitter. Both brands 'retaliated', for better or for worse, on the social network.
More recently, Hotstar acquired the rights to Deadpool, and put up a number of tweets to make sure you know it's not censored. Now, this could be a reference to the fact that the movie saw a number of cuts before it could be released in India - but it could also be a reference to the fact that Amazon Prime Video is haphazardly censoring its content, just like an Indian TV channel would.
The Hotstar-Amazon prime Video deal though proves that the rivalries aren't as deep as the Twitter feuds would have you believe.
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