Tencent, Paytm Plan to Invest $100 Million in Video Startup
(Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Paytm plan to invest about $100 million in Indian streaming service MX Player, according to a person familiar with the matter, as local and foreign companies compete for a piece of the country's burgeoning online video market.
The WeChat operator and Paytm are in the final stages of discussions but specific terms may still change, said the person, who asked not to be named because the details are private. Jane Yip, a spokeswoman for Tencent, and representatives for Paytm and MX Player declined to comment.
Tencent has invested in movies, television shows and other content to increase user engagement. The Chinese social media giant, which offers HBO series and National Football League games at home, launched its first overseas video streaming service last month in Thailand as it seeks growth abroad. The MX Player deal offers Tencent a foothold in India, where smartphone users are proliferating and avidly consuming content via cheap wireless data plans.
India's content streaming market is projected to grow at an annual rate of 22% to 120 billion rupees ($1.7 billion) by 2023, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. For Indian digital payments leader Paytm and parent One97 Communications Ltd., MX Player's 30 million registered users adds to a plethora of offerings from food delivery and e-commerce to financial services. Paytm reported 5.5 billion transactions in the year ending March 2019 with a gross value of over $50 billion.
MX Player is one of a coterie of streaming services vying for a slice of a highly fragmented but fast-growing market. Owned by Times Internet, a unit of top Indian media conglomerate Bennett Coleman & Co., MX Player generates about two-thirds of its viewership from smaller towns and competes with the likes of Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime video and market leader Hotstar, owned by Walt Disney Co.
Last month, Hotstar recorded 100 million daily active users, when about 15.6 million people watched a pivotal match between India and Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
--With assistance from Lulu Yilun Chen.
To contact the reporter on this story: Saritha Rai in Bangalore at srai33@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan, Colum Murphy
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
-
'Never Seen This Level Of Negativity': Sandeep Tandon Says The Next Rally May Be Closer Than You Think
Veteran investor Sandeep Tandon says foreign selling is easing, large-caps are due a comeback and mid-caps are crowded, while he turns positive on gold, power and pharma this Diwali.
-
Indians Stay With Family, Not In Hotels | The Reason Why
India still lacks enough clean, reliable and affordable hotels for budget-conscious travellers.
-
The Economic Imperative: Analysing The Material Driving Force Behind India-Canada Strategic Reset
This economic complementarity is further reinforced by deep institutional investment ties and talent mobility, which form the bedrock of the bilateral framework.
-
Medicine Pricing: Where Must Profit Stop?
India must confront excessive margins, hidden incentives and regulatory gaps that threaten the integrity of medicine.
-
Why Amazon And Flipkart Are Struggling To Beat Meesho In India's Smaller Cities
With 274 million users and lowest-cost logistics, Meesho is defending its value commerce crown against giants like Amazon and Flipkart.
-
High US Salaries, No Green Card Certainty: The Financial Calculation Facing Indian H-1B Families
The suspension of PERM processing at eight technology employers does not cancel existing H-1B visas. What it does is force a question many Indian families have been avoiding: is the US salary worth tying your career and family plans to one employer?
-
Swiggy vs Eternal: Food Delivery's Two Rivals Are No Longer In The Same Race
Eternal is building a private AI assistant, dark.ai. Swiggy is still working out how to make Instamart pay, with an operating loss of Rs 895 crore in the July-September quarter while Blinkit stayed profitable.
-
Where You Live Shapes How You Get To Work | The Reason Why
Two-wheelers are the most popular way to get to work in India, accounting for nearly 43% of workplace commutes.
-
Unhedged Position: Can India See An Indonesia-Style Time Correction?
The Nifty is trading below levels it first clocked in 2024. Is there, then, as I have suggested in the headline, potential that the current time correction drags on painfully for the next three-five, even ten years?
-
Navigating Friction And Energy Realities: An Analysis Of Marco Rubio's October Visit To India
Occurring at a critical juncture marked by stalled trade negotiations and escalating geopolitical pressures over global energy supplies, the visit offers a profound window into modern US-India relations.
