Paramount Global's streaming service will face a tough market when it launches in India in 2023, but it could benefit from a ready alliance if it plays its cards right.
Paramount Global's CEO Bob Bakish said Paramount+ will launch in India with the aim of bundling with India's Viacom18 Digital Ventures-owned video-on-demand platform, Voot. While he did not clarify if the streaming service will go in as a stand-alone service or not, analysts believe Paramount+ is better off launching as a service within Voot, citing the highly competitive and price-sensitive streaming market in India. Additionally, Viacom18 recently secured the streaming rights to the popular Indian Premier League cricketing tournament, meaning Paramount+ can benefit indirectly from the subscribers that Voot will amass once the IPL season begins in April 2023.
"It is very likely that Voot could have 25 million to 30 million subscribers next year with the start of the IPL, making it one of the top OTT apps in the country," said Uday Sodhi, partner and co-founder at digital strategy firm, Kurate Digital Consulting and former head of Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. Ltd.'s over-the-top platform, SonyLiv. "So Paramount+ should launch within Voot and offer its viewers a tiered or bundled subscription."
Viacom18 and Paramount Global declined to comment on their India plans.
Scoring off cricket viewership
Viacom18 — which is jointly owned by Paramount Global; Reliance Projects & Property Management Services Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd.; and James Murdoch-backed Bodhi Tree Systems — secured the highly coveted streaming rights to the IPL for the next five years for approximately $3 billion, outbidding rival Walt Disney Co.-owned Disney+ Hotstar.
"Cricket in general has a huge pull in India and is a monopoly sport. The fact the digital rights has gone for more than four times its previous cycle showcases its potential," said Vivek Menon, founding partner at India media and entertainment fund NV Capital.
Notably, Bakish said the highly coveted cricket rights will not be part of the Paramount+ roster.
The IPL was a key customer-acquisition driver for Disney+ Hotstar, the previous cricket league rights holder. Disney+ Hotstar ended 2021 with 37.7 million paid subscriptions in India, up from 4.3 million for Hotstar at the end of 2019, according to estimates from Kagan, a media research group within S&P Global Market Intelligence.
IPL will be an immense catalyst for Voot's subscription growth as well, added Kagan analyst Jessica Fuk. Voot is largely an ad-based video on demand platform, with subscription tiers for its paid services Voot Kids and Voot Select. Voot Select's subscriber base totaled less than 2 million as of year-end 2021 — around the same amount as local services Hoichoi and aha, according to Kagan.
Local benefits
Paramount+ plans to "ride alongside" Viacom18's service, meaning it will not invest in local content or marketing in India, Bakish said.
However, without content customized to the Indian audience, Paramount+ will struggle to attract subscribers in a streaming market where rival foreign players such as Netflix Inc., Disney+ Hotstar and Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video are already investing heavily in creating original Indian content, analysts said.
"Paramount+'s best bet is to ride on Voot's platform since it is local — they will have a rough ride if they go alone," said Sodhi.
Voot may also be ramping up content production following a recent capital injection from Viacom18 shareholders. Bodhi Tree Systems and former Walt Disney India head Uday Shankar will invest 135 billion Indian rupees in Viacom18, according to an April 2022 statement. Ambani's Reliance Projects and Property Management Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, will also inject 16.45 billion rupees into Viacom18.
By launching directly on Voot first, Paramount will buy some time to understand the market and the local content it will need, NV Capital's Menon said.
"Paramount+ will need to get their content right one way or the other — the global content will only take them so far. Disney+ Hotstar had many HBO hits, like 'Game of Thrones,' but they too have started producing originals in India," he said.
Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek said during the company's second-quarter earnings call that its streaming platform is working on 500 shows for local content outside of the U.S., of which 100 will be for its India audience and 140 for the entire Southeast Asia region.
Netflix spent $400 million on content production in India in 2019 and 2020. Amazon Prime Video said it will more than double its investment in India over the next five years and revealed a new slate of 40 titles at an event in Mumbai earlier this year.