Amazon set to introduce Prime Lite in India at ₹799 per year

Prime Lite is in the testing phase and will be available to Indian consumers as an economical alternative to the existing ₹1499 annual subscription plan, a senior executive told Mint. 

“India is a significant innovation hub for us. Over time, we have experimented with various pricing models and benefit constructs here that have been rolled out to other countries worldwide,” said Kelly Day, vice president – International, Prime Video. “Currently, we are focused on testing different benefits structures in India, including Prime Lite, to understand customer preferences and value propositions.”

Unlike other pure-play OTT platforms, which have multiple plans depending on device (mobile or TV) and usage (single or multiple viewing), Amazon Prime so far has only one kind of subscription, which offers the entire bouquet of services at ₹1,499 per year.

Disney+Hotstar offers a mobile-only plan for ₹499 per year with ads, and ₹899 per year with ads for consumption on TV. American streaming platform Netflix has all ad-free plans in India, starting from ₹149 a month for mobile only. Its TV plans are priced at ₹199, ₹499 and ₹649 per month. The company does not offer annual plans. Globally, it has introduced ad-tier plan in some markets.

Amazon Prime experimented with a mobile-only subscription plan in India, which worked well and was thus taken to other markets. In the US, the company has already launched ads on Prime Video, and thus it was looking for a cheaper variant of the current plan.

While Prime Lite subscribers will enjoy free shipping benefits, their access to Prime Video will be restricted to one device at a time, and the content will be available in HD quality only. The plan will exclude services such as Amazon Music, Prime Reading, and Prime Gaming.

As the plan offers limited services such as free shipping, and Prime Video, and does not allow for 4K viewing, top-tier customers are unlikely to downgrade to Prime Lite, the company believes. In fact, it feels, that many mobile users might upgrade to Prime Lite, hence improving its average revenue per user or ARPUs.

The streamer had first launched Prime Video mobile edition in India with telco Bharti Airtel initially and was soon taken in-house by Amazon. Later, the mobile edition was rolled out in a few other countries.

Asked about the company’s intention to launch Prime Lite in other markets, Day said there were no immediate plans. “Offering the right benefits at the right price point and providing choice to customers is valuable in every market where we operate.,” she said.

Notably, Prime Lite has been under testing for almost a year. However, it was a very different proposition when it was first envisaged and was priced at ₹999. Late last year, the pricing was reduced to ₹799, but the company was planning to allow streaming on two devices. It is only now that Amazon has found the product market fit. 

“Prime Lite, priced at ₹799, offers customers access to Prime Video content on any one device of their choice, either mobile or living room device, in HD quality. We have been testing this plan. Our goal is to provide customers with the flexibility to choose the plan that best suits their needs,” said Gaurav Gandhi, vice president, Asia Pacific & MENA for Prime Video. “This is something we are doing only in India right now. This is unique, the same way we launched the mobile edition.”

Last week, Prime Video announced a new slate for India with shows and movies that are scheduled to premiere on the streaming platform over the next two years. The list features 40 original series and movies, and 29 films that will stream on the platform post-theatrical release, all across Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages.

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Published: 27 Mar 2024, 06:25 PM IST