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Prime Video India is riding high on a wave of subscriber growth and franchise success, with the streaming giant revealing that nearly 25% of its viewers in the past 12 months have been completely new to the service. The milestone comes as Amazon doubles down on its unique dual-platform strategy, pairing its premium SVOD offering with the free, ad-supported Amazon MX Player while preparing to launch high-profile projects including “Lukkha,” which will mark rapper King’s acting debut.
“Overall, for us across the region, it’s been a super exciting 12 months,” says Gaurav Gandhi, VP of APAC and MENA, during an exclusive interview where the Prime Video India leadership team sat down with Variety. “Each of our businesses has seen strong growth and customer adoption.”
The numbers tell a compelling story. India remains the No. 1 locale outside the U.S. for new Prime sign-ups annually, with Prime Video serving as the leading benefit driving new memberships. In 2024, India recorded the highest percentage of Prime members streaming Prime Video compared to any other country globally.
“Almost 60% of our shows that we’ve launched since we’ve been here have gone into multiple seasons,” notes Nikhil Madhok, director and head of originals for Prime Video India. “That’s a pretty significant success rate for any sort of creative business.” The service has launched over 110 originals to date, with another 100 projects in various stages of development and production.
Among the upcoming projects is “Lukkha,” a previously unannounced series that exemplifies Prime Video’s approach to new talent cultivation. “It’s an extremely exciting show. It’s got King, the rapper who’s making his acting debut,” reveals Madhok. “This is a show that was brought to us by two first-time writers. They’re not only the creators, they’re also the writers.” The multi-genre series features music and action elements with a cast of young performers. “Our experience with them has been so good that both the creators and us are already in conversations to say, what more can we do together,” Madhok says.
Recent franchise expansions have broken viewership records. “Panchayat” Season 4 was watched by three times more customers in its first month compared to Season 1, while “Mirzapur” Season 3 drew four times the viewership of its debut season. Prime Video is also developing “Panchayat” Season 5 for a 2026 premiere, making it the only Indian fictional streaming series to reach that milestone. The franchise strategy extends beyond traditional renewals: the service is bringing “Mirzapur” to the big screen with a theatrical film slated for 2026.
Prime Video’s move into theatrical production marks a significant strategic shift. The streamer recently announced “Nishaanchi,” an Anurag Kashyap-directed film set for theatrical release on Sept. 19, produced by Amazon MGM Studios. “We’re stepping up and saying, ‘We’re going to support the theatrical ecosystem,’” explains Madhok. “These are not big star-led spectacles. These are really good, solid scripts with passionate makers, and we are backing them to say, let’s put scripts over stars.”
The theatrical strategy encompasses multiple models, according to Manish Menghani, director and head of content licensing for Prime Video India. “We are adapting to both consumers and our creator ecosystem to be able to serve content in the right place, in the right window and at the right time,” says Menghani. “We also have early access TVOD films, so consumers can get it in an earlier window by paying a rental fee and getting some of those same films earlier in terms of access to them.”
The windowing strategy varies by market and film. “In Hindi, the windowing is eight weeks, with TVOD available earlier,” explains Menghani. “But in the South, that window changes and varies from film to film.” The service plans to premiere four to six local Indian films theatrically each year starting in 2026.
Amazon’s acquisition of MX Player has created what Gandhi describes as a “unique strategy” addressing India’s diverse entertainment landscape. Amazon MX Player serves as a free, ad-supported platform reaching 250 million monthly visitors, while Prime Video targets premium subscribers.
“We believe that with this two-service strategy, we are able to cater to the diverse needs of our customer segments in the country,” says Gandhi. “We’re not just windowing content between free and pay, we’re creating original content for the free segment as well.”
Amogh Dusad, director and head of content for Prime Video India, oversees the Amazon MX Player programming strategy. “There is a unique playbook in creation. We are probably the only ones who are an creating exclusive service, free of charge, advertiser supported for customers,” Dusad says. The platform has seen notable successes, including the returning season of “Aashram,” which broke viewership records, and “Gutar Gu” Season 3.
The platform is also experimenting with micro-dramas under the Fatafat banner, targeting quick entertainment consumption. “As storytelling continues to need innovation, and we find new ways to tell stories, even the format in which stories are being told, technology is really enabling innovation on that front, which is really the micro dramas that we are very excited about,” explains Dusad. “It might just be the same consumer who probably wants to binge watch a web series on a Friday night or a Sunday afternoon, but probably during the weekdays have these little more micro moments that get created.”
The service is making strategic moves to expand access through pricing innovation. Prime Lite, launched at INR799 ($9.10) annually versus the full Prime membership at INR1,499 ($17.10), offers the same shipping and shopping benefits but limits video to one device with ads optional. “Prime Lite is essentially a differentiated version of Prime where the shipping and shopping benefit is the same, but on video, we have a one-device plan,” says Shilangi Mukherji, director and head of SVOD business for Prime Video India.
The rental business has also found success, with the service building India’s largest movie rental catalog of 8,500+ titles. Notably, 60% of the catalog is rented at least once monthly, with transactions coming from 95% of India’s post codes. Gandhi notes the cultural shift required: “Most customers today haven’t really experienced that habit at all. And rentals didn’t exist in that sense in India, at least. So it’s, in many ways, habit creation and category creation work.”
Prime Video’s international programming is resonating strongly with Indian audiences, with 85% of subscribers watching international shows and movies. Localization efforts have paid off, with 25% of international content viewing time now occurring in Indian languages. The reverse is equally impressive: over 25% of Indian content viewership comes from outside India. In 2024, Indian content trended in Prime Video’s global Top 10 every single week.
Marketing plays a crucial role in building and sustaining audience engagement across this diverse content slate. Sonal Kabi, director and head of marketing for Prime Video India, emphasizes the multi-benefit approach to customer retention. “We are an entertainment hub, we’re also multi-benefit programming. So there’s shipping, shopping, video and music, which gives us that selection — that multi-benefit program fuels that choice in decision making,” Kabi says.
The marketing strategy extends beyond individual shows to create cross-franchise engagement. “We try and keep these world’s characters alive even during the season, one season to the other,” explains Kabi. “We also leverage, let’s say ‘The Family Man’ characters, Shrikant, played by Manoj Bajpayee, to introduce the world of ‘Paatal Lok.’ So we will do these crossovers that allow us to keep this season going.”
Social media presence has been particularly effective, with Prime Video maintaining one of the largest social followings in the country across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube combined. For “The Traitors,” the unscripted hit that broke new ground as the first reality show created specifically for streaming platforms, “we had about 1 billion impressions outside our own channels,” notes Kabi.
Prime Video is also actively cultivating new talent, with over 65% of projects in development featuring new talent either in front of or behind the camera. The service is also prioritizing inclusive storytelling, with more than 80% of projects in development having women in head-of-department positions.
Recent launches like “Call Me Bae,” “Khauf” and “Gram Chikitsalay” have all secured second season renewals. Looking ahead, Prime Video has announced “Too Much,” a new talk show starring Kajol and Twinkle Khanna. On the unscripted side, Amazon MX Player is developing “Rise and Fall,” described by Dusad as “a unique unscripted show, more like a social experiment with Ashneer Grover playing the ringmaster.”
The content strategy focuses on thematic storytelling rather than genre limitations. “One of the themes that we really work around is women with agency who are overcoming obstacles,” explains Madhok, citing “Khauf” and “Call Me Bae” as examples of the same theme addressed through different genres – horror and comedy-drama respectively.
As Gandhi notes, the streaming opportunity in India remains significant: “We still think there’s an opportunity for us to continue to grow our audience share across the board between the two services. We think there are new things emerging there.” The service tracks engagement through multiple metrics, from completion rates to social advocacy, with a particular focus on depth of penetration across India’s diverse geography.
As the Indian streaming market continues to evolve, Prime Video’s multi-pronged approach — combining premium originals, theatrical releases, free content and international programming — positions it uniquely to capture the country’s diverse entertainment appetite. With content traveling deeper into India’s smaller towns and cities, reaching 99% of post codes, the service appears well-positioned for its next phase of growth in a market where, as Gandhi observes, “the bar of content is only going higher and higher.”
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