Netflix India Pricing Plans - Which One To Choose?

I think, the Rs. 500 basic Netflix India plan is pretty affordable. You get to watch all the Top shows - Narcos, Marco Polo, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Suits and what not. I am just wondering about their success in India, where even though major torrent sites are banned - the consumers are SO used to downloading stuff. See, the kind of reaction I read about it on Twitter:





It makes you wonder if people really are ready to pay to consume this content.

The only comment I think that was really positive on my timeline was:

Ankita Katdare

It makes you wonder if people really are ready to pay to consume this content.

I am not sure it will work in the near future. I am sure there are many people who will download even "free internet" connections if there is a way to do that 😀. But, eventually it will work ( like how more and more people are buying iPhone).

I have feeling that uploading content will increase from India now ☕
Now the war is between NetFlix and Reliance Jio👍
I have used beta Reliance Jio. They have given feature like viewing past tv content.
But consume lots of data, More than 1 GB for an hour for live streaming.

Netflix is finally in India, the biggest speculation now is, will it work?

First of all, I do not agree with the people who say the Indian pricing is affordable. Here is my explanation. When services like Amazon Unlimited and Apple Music came into the country, they adjusted their pricing according to Indian sensibilities. Amazon Unlimited which costs $9.99 per month (668 INR) in the US costs Rs.199 per month. Apple Music similarly costs $9.99 per month but in India you have to pay Rs. 120. Netflix’s entry level plans (one screen) in the US costs $7.99 (534 INR) and in India as mentioned above, you get it for Rs. 500 which isn’t what many expected.

Comparison

2 Screen HD Plan US: $9.99 (668 INR) India: Rs. 650

4 Screen Ultra HD Plan US: $11.99 (802) India: Rs. 800

Secondly, Netflix is NOT a one stop shop for all your TV streaming needs. For example, the award winning TV show made by Netflix, House of Cards starring Kevin Spacey would not be available in Netflix India because the show’s complete license is with Zee Cafe. Orange is the New Black (airing on Colors Infinity) will be available though, because it has different licence rules. Shows from HBO, like the most pirated show of all time, Game of Thrones isn’t available on Netflix. On Netflix content comes in and goes out regularly for example you would be busy watching one show and you will find the next day its gone, and this is a big concern. People in the US complain how they have to shell out different amounts of cash to different companies such as HBO Now, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime and others which is a burden for Indian customers.

Thirdly, is the fact that there is a scarcity of Indian content on Netflix. When it comes to TV shows from channels like Sony or Colors they put up their episodes free of charge on YouTube. Star used to do that and now it has the Hotstar app for this purpose. In US you have a huge collection of movies but the Indian films collection is just a handful.

Finally, the big issue of them all, torrents. Everyone who has ever watched an American TV show has used torrents (be honest). Torrents have a huge advantage over Netflix. If I want to watch an episode of Narcos, I spend the same amount of data to stream it in standard definition as I do with downloading a SD mp4 file of the episode via torrents. But if I want re-watch it, I have to again spend more data, but with torrents I have the file and I can replay it any number of times. Hotstar even trumps Netflix because it provides offline storage of TV shows.

Unless things such as public perception of piracy and internet speeds improve, Netflix cannot be a hit in India.

There is a wealth of TV shows on Netflix that you wont find seeders for. And it is HD content. Two friends can share a plan and pay just 250 p.m. for this. Is that not great? As for the downloading limits, well, that is what you cannot do anything about. If you want HD then you will use the data. Even if you want to download the series in HD, you will have to use up a lot of your data limit. I am a big fan and I think if you work around the data consumption problem, it is a seamless and very satisfying experience.

Isn't it true that most internet plans in India have an upper cap? I have friends with max 2 GB limit per month and supposedly more active users have 16 GB plans. If we assume that this constitutes the majority of the population, how do they expect them to consumer 1 GB data for one hour of content. Most TV shows have single episodes that run 1 hour long. I am not saying that Netflix India wont find subscribers, but they will be very limited ones. And like Satya said above, torrents will keep ruling the rest of the crowd.

Agree, very few ISP gives you unlimited data download.
For enjoying Netflix services you need to have at least 3-5 Mbps unlimited data download.
As far I know Delhi people have to pay quite massive price for this speed.
Hyderabad is in little better position, you can enjoy 3Mbps unlimited in 1300/- after data cap of 100Gb @40Mbps.
Torrent is still ruling where NetFlix is in main stream. Today one popular torrent website, tomorrow will be another. Torrent is not going down unless govt. blocks the whole P-P protocol (which will be against whole Internet thing)

netflix would see only limited users .Only thing that attracts the people was the shows but analysis of plans will make people think twice before going forward with netflix. Torrent would still beat netflix.