Airtel Xstream Play, the video streaming service offered by Bharti Airtel, has achieved a significant milestone by surpassing 5 million paid subscribers in October. The company now has its sights set on the ambitious goal of reaching 20 million subscribers, driven by the growing demand for convenient access to bundled services and content.
Adarsh Nair, CEO of Airtel Digital, emphasized that Airtel Xstream Play is among the rapidly growing aggregator apps and is actively seeking partnerships with additional OTT platforms to expand its reach and engage a broader audience.
In India, there are more than 40 OTT apps and a vast selection of premium video content. However, discovering and purchasing this content can be a challenge. Airtel Xstream Play aims to streamline this process by consolidating a wide array of premium OTT apps under a single application and pricing structure. Recent additions to this service include Alt Balaji, Fancode, and Playflix, bringing Airtel closer to its goal of offering the most extensive selection of premium content to 20 million subscribers.
Airtel's content strategy is rooted in the belief that content is a compelling use case to promote its connectivity services. This approach aims to leverage Airtel's broadband and mobile services to enhance content consumption. Airtel acknowledges that sustainable business models involve customers paying for content, leading to bundled content packages based on a customer's chosen service, whether it's broadband or prepaid.
Nair underlines the importance of customers paying for content, emphasizing that today's landscape is different from the early stages of content adoption when some content was available for free on telecom networks. Now, based on the customer's ability to pay, Airtel bundles content services, such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, and Xstream Play, to provide comprehensive access to relevant content.
Airtel's Xstream Play addresses the challenge of content fragmentation. With a single sign-on and integrated experience, it enables subscribers to access content from a variety of partners, including Lionsgate, Sony LIV, SunNXT, and Eros Now. A revenue-sharing model ensures partners are rewarded based on customer viewing patterns.
This initiative emphasizes Airtel's core competencies in technology and distribution, leaving content production to content creators and partners. Airtel's revenue-sharing approach encourages content creators and partners to collaborate in a mutually beneficial framework.
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In addition to standalone monthly subscription plans for ₹149, Airtel offers bundled plans that include broadband services. Notably, Airtel Xstream Play has seen increasing user interest in series, movies, and sports content, with a focus on series like "Scam 2003" and "Scam 1992" accounting for 47% of user time, followed by movies such as "Carry on Jatta" (Punjabi), "Por Thozhil" (Tamil), and "Voice of Sathyanathan" (Malayalam) at 37%.
This achievement reflects Airtel's commitment to providing a seamless and diverse content library for its customers, integrating connectivity services with content offerings.
Inputs from IANS
