Amazon just flexed its muscles in the highly-competitive streaming entertainment market in India by acquiring the hugely popular free OTT app MX Player. Amazon will combine its MiniTV along with MX Player into one OTT powerhouse, to be called Amazon MX Player.
The move acquires significance considering the recent taking over of Disney+ Hotstar by Jio, which makes Jio a formidable player with its repertoire which originally includes channels like Colours and CNBC as well as OTT players like Jio Cinema and Voot. More importantly, perhaps, the combine also hold rights to some of the most sought-after sporting events in the country, including the annual IPL jamboree.
According to market figures, MX Player and Amazon MiniTV had a combined viewership of 25 crore last month.
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MX Player, earlier owned by the parent company of Times of India, was one of the most popular OTT services for long, since it followed a free, ad-supported format which did not require monthly subscription, like other players like Netflix. It boasted a line-up of hugely successful series’ like Aashram, Bhaukaal, Raktanchal etc., as well as a huge collection of Korean, Turkish and Mandarin shows dubbed in Indian languages.
The new combined offering will have content across genres in a single destination, available through its apps on mobile, Amazon.in Shopping app, Prime Video, Fire TV, and Connected TVs.
“Today we are bringing together the vast reach of MX Player, with the advertising tech that leverages Amazon’s billions of customer signals,” said Girish Prabhu, Head of Amazon Advertising India. “It’s about enabling all brands, not just the ones selling on Amazon, to reach and deliver relevant advertising to a very large and engaged base across India. It’s about directly measuring outcomes from the very top of the funnel to the very bottom.”