Asian Tech Press (Dec 15) -- In a bid to compete with Amazon and Disney for market share in India, American subscription streaming service and production company Netflix has cut the price of its streaming service in the country, which is the first time the company has cut prices since it launched its streaming service in India five years ago.

Netflix said that the company lowered the prices of all four packages in India, with the biggest being the basic package, a 60 percent price cut for single-device use, from Rs. 499 ($6.57) per month to Rs. 199 ($2.60) per month; there is also a mobile package that is the cheapest for phones and tablets only, and the price has been reduced from the previous Rs. 199/month to Rs. 149/month. The overall reduction ranges from 18% to 60% and is effective from December 14 and will be available to all members from the next billing cycle.

Netflix sees India as the most promising overseas market. In a September 2019 report, KPMG predicted that the number of online video users in India will exceed 500 million by 2023. But for years, Netflix has priced its products well above competitors such as Disney and Amazon. And the data shows that Netflix currently has a total of just 5 million subscribers in India. By comparison, the total number of Indian subscribers to Amazon Prime Video is 19 million, and the total number of Indian subscribers to Disney's Hotstar platform is 46 million.

Analysts say Netflix needs to cut costs to capture the Indian market. With the success of its localization strategy in South Korea, Netflix plans to launch more locally produced content for India, with 40 movies, series and documentaries.