Oppenheimer At Rs 119, Barbie At Rs 149 — Is Amazon Prime's Rental Play Working?

Amazon’s Prime Video launched movie rental services in India in April 2022. A year later, it increased prices of Prime’s subscription plan, with the monthly scheme being priced at Rs 299 from Rs 179 previously. While the yearly subscription remained unchanged at Rs 1,499, several of Prime Video’s movie titles have gone behind the rental paywall since the launch of the transactional video-on-demand service.

A Harry Potter movie marathon now costs viewers Rs 952, with each movie costing Rs 119, where viewers would get 30 days to watch the movies and 48 hours of access. Downloads are unavailable for rentals. Oscar-winning titles like Oppenheimer and Barbie are also available on rent, costing Rs 119 and Rs 149, respectively.

Prime Video turned intermediary in 2022 and launched channels on its platform, available to viewers through additional subscriptions. These include Manorama Max, Discovery+, and Eros Now, with MGM+ being the latest addition.

Rental services may open up more titles to viewers, but how do subscribers view these extra charges? And does it help Prime Video compete better in the over-the-top services space? 

Amazon’s Prime membership is an aggregated offering, which gives subscribers access to Prime Video, Amazon music and speedy deliveries among others perks. This itself makes Prime Video a unique offering, compared to peers such as Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema, which only offer content streaming services.

NDTV Profit sent queries to Amazon Prime that remained unanswered. Netflix, Jio and Hotstar declined to comment.

Aggregation is a well-used strategy for OTT subscriptions as well, with Tata Play, Airtel and even Jio offering users OTT subscriptions with broadband purchase.

"This has played out very well… India likes aggregation,” Ashish Pherwani, partner, media and entertainment at EY India, told NDTV Profit. "This is because you get access to a range of platforms for a less expensive rate."

Tata Play offers users of its Binge app a packaged offering of 34 OTT apps, from Rs 399 per month. This includes Apple TV, Disney+ Hotstar and Zee 5, and access through four devices.

Pherwani said bundling will be the future. “In the next seven years, India is expected to have 70 million or more connected TV homes and this base will be largely driven by bundles,” he said. “There will be a huge up-take of bundles on mobile phones, too, as they head towards 740 million by 2030.” 

Netflix has delved into bundling in its own way. It launched games on its platform in 2021, in which viewers can immerse themselves in the universe of popular shows like Stranger Things and Love Island. These are also available for users on the mobile application. It had also launched its 'Fast Laughs' feature the same year. The short-form video feature was a TikTok-inspired feed, meant to introduce viewers to new shows or movies through snippets. However, the tab is now missing in the mobile app.

The upcoming merger of Reliance’s streaming service with Walt Disney Co.'s India unit, Disney+ Hotstar, will hold clues for strategies that may come into play after the merger.

Till then, JioCinema continues to dominate India’s OTT market, with its monopoly on cricket streaming. The platform had the topmost unique viewership at 114.21 million among OTTs in India for week 17 of 2024, according to data from Chrome OTT. 

Disney+ Hotstar came in second, with 26.66 million users, even as paid subscriber count declined 6% quarter-on-quarter to 36 million in the March quarter. Meanwhile, Netflix had 24.65 million unique views.

Indian Premier League on JioCinema took the first spot in the top-binged titles. While Amazon Prime Video was not the top player in terms of views, its title Fallout was the third-most binged, with 1.03 million unique viewers in week 17.

In movies, Netflix’s Amar Singh Chamkila and Article 370 were the top two most-watched titles, with 3.18 million and 3 million unique viewers, respectively. Amazon’s Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya came in the third spot, with 2.85 million unique viewers during the week. But this was well after it had come out of the rental paywall.

Amazon Prime Video subscribers that NDTV Profit spoke with said they were less inclined to rent titles on the platform. The overarching reason was they didn’t view paying a rental fee on top of a subscription as a fair ask.

“We already pay the subscription and over and above to pay more is not required,” said Rakesh D Samani, a Prime Video subscriber. He has never rented a movie title on the platform.

Amogh Purohit, an Ahmedabad-based advertising and marketing professional, has rented movie titles from the platform, but was disappointed with the user experience. “(It is) Slightly annoying. I had bought Kung Fu Panda and it took so long for the TV app to realise I’ve paid.”

Then, there is also the matter of paying subscriptions for multiple OTT platforms. “I don't think rental as a service is something I'd use when I have multiple OTT options to stream the same movies from, or even if it's solely available on Amazon, I'd prefer it to be part of the yearly subscription,” said 28-year-old Preethi Prakash, who works for a merchandising firm in Bengaluru. But even as she has never rented a movie title on Prime Video, Prakash said it could be more economical since it’s a rental service. 

Not many people in India have multiple subscriptions. The average is around two platforms per household, according to EY’s Pherwani. 

“India likes sachets. For example, if you look at FMCG companies, you have your big shampoo bottle and then your sachet packets. So, we have the same sachet theory coming into play on content. India likes its sachet products for trial, before committing to large packs, and when short of funds,” he said on Amazon’s rental offering. 

To be sure, renting newer movie titles is lighter on the pocket than movie theatres. To take the example of Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya itself, the movie was available on Prime Video on rent for Rs 349, roughly eight weeks after a theatre release. That works out cheaper than the average cost of a movie outing for a family of four, which can range between Rs 1,500 and Rs 2,000.

But while the rental offering provides variety, the prices feel steep for a few titles, according to Suneet Rayal, a 25-year-old architect from Bengaluru. “I don’t feel good about it, (it) doesn't feel like a sustainable model, better to increase the subscription fee and provide everything."