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About 25% of our viewing for Indian content happens outside India: Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video made its official debut in India on December 14, 2016. This launch made the service available to Indian customers as part of the Amazon Prime subscription, giving them access to an extensive library of movies, TV shows, and exclusive original content.
In India, it is among the top three OTT platforms, competing with Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar (now JioStar). The FICCI EY report for 2025 reveals that in 2024, paid video subscriptions grew by 11 million, reaching a total of 111 million across 47 million households in India.
The number of subscribing households is expected to grow from 47 million to over 65 million by 2027, driven by increasing per capita income and the continued expansion of smart TV adoption, contingent upon the availability of affordable broadband.
The report says that bundling will play a significant role in growing these subscriptions, emphasising the importance of both telco packs and multi-package/platform bundles. That is exactly the trend that Prime Video is banking upon but is taking bundling to another level.
From introducing ad-supported content through its partnership with MXPlayer, TVOD (Transactional Video on Demand), add-on subscriptions such as Lionsgate Play, discovery+, Eros Now, DocuBay, including Apple TV, Fast channels, and now producing and commissioning theatrical movie releases.
Prime Video is evolving into its own ecosystem, confidently stepping out from the shadow of its parent company, Amazon. According to the platform’s leadership, India is central to this exciting transformation.
At the recent AVIA’s Future of Video India conference, part of WAVES 2025, Kelly Day, head of International and vice president of Prime Video, along with Gaurav Gandhi, vice president of Asia Pacific and MENA at Prime Video, engaged in an in-depth discussion regarding the platform’s multi-tiered subscription and monetisation strategies.
India: A strategic pillar
The platform recognises India as a significant and vital market. The duo highlighted that, although they didn’t disclose viewer numbers, India and Japan are pivotal growth engines for Prime Video in the APAC region and for Amazon as a whole.
According to Gandhi, their original Indian shows are not only well-received in India, but also enjoy global acclaim. India boasts a remarkable lineup of original content, featuring standout series such as Panchayat, The Family Man, and Mirzapur, making it one of the largest producers of original programming beyond the US.
“About 25% of our viewing for Indian content happens outside India.”
Gaurav Gandhi, vice president of Asia Pacific and MENA at Prime Video
He also added that the country, with its population size and diversity, serves as an innovation hub for the platform.
India led the way by introducing groundbreaking innovations such as mobile-only plans and Prime Lite. Local insights are now shaping global strategies, particularly in multilingual, mobile-first markets.
“India is the only country where we’ve integrated all three pillars—Prime subscription, third-party channel subscriptions, and transactional video (rentals). Plus, we have Amazon’s free ad-supported service, MX Player.”
Gaurav Gandhi
A strong market for rentals
Gandhi also said that India stands out as the largest market for the platform’s rental services (TVOD).
“Our rental service offers about 7.5 million titles, with 60% rented at least once per month, and rentals happening in 95% of Indian ZIP codes. That’s strong reach. We’re also investing in anime and Korean categories through rentals. We’re effectively reviving the old video rental business, which had disappeared before pay TV emerged.”
Prime Video’s strategy to become an entertainment hub
Kelly Day said that Prime Video’s vision of evolving into an entertainment hub is driving its expansion. “Our goal is simple: be the first place people think of when they want to watch TV.”
“We know we can’t produce everything viewers might want. The core of our offering, of course, is the Prime service that includes all of the hundreds of thousands of titles in our library, but then we go above and beyond that and say we want to be able to offer additional add-on subscriptions through Prime Video channels.”
She added that the OTT’s goal is to provide TVOD services, and it currently operate in 25 countries, allowing it to rent or purchase content. Across various regions, similar to the platform’s experience with Amazon MX Player in India, it is witnessing the rise of free ad-supported content.
“The idea of being able to deliver the biggest and best possible selection to customers is core to how we think about the Prime Video business and how we operate pretty much everywhere around the world.”
Kelly Day, head of International and vice president of Prime Video
Gandhi added that to serve a market as complex of VOD, one has to experiment with various offerings and products.
“We believe in the theatrical window.”
In 2022, Prime Video made a significant acquisition by bringing MGM Studios into its fold. This strategic decision seamlessly integrated MGM’s vast film and television library, featuring more than 4,000 film titles and 17,000 TV episodes, including legendary franchises such as James Bond, Rocky, and Creed, into the Prime Video experience.
Following the acquisition, Amazon MGM Studios is at the forefront of developing, producing, and distributing films and TV series, ensuring captivating content for theatrical releases and exclusive streaming on Prime Video.
In 2025, Amazon MGM announced a joint venture with Eon Productions to manage the James Bond franchise, granting Amazon MGM full creative control over future Bond films.
Speaking about Prime Video’s vision for the film business, Day said that the platform thinks the opportunity to bring audiences together and have a theatrical experience is still pretty magical.
She noted that while not every film may follow this path, Prime Video, with its customer-centric approach, is committed to providing the finest experiences for audiences in both theatrical and streaming formats.
“We’re going to continue to experiment to make sure that we not only maximise the opportunity around the films, but also make sure that we can deliver them to customers wherever they want to watch them.”
“Our ambition is to produce around 14–15 titles a year for global theatrical distribution.”
Kelly Day, head of International and vice president of Prime Video
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