Netflix hasn't had the easiest time in India. It's currently the costliest streaming option in the country, and in a market where there's no dearth of choice — thanks to Hotstar, Prime Video, SonyLIV, and Voot — it's seeing minimal growth compared to the rest of the field.
That could change in the coming months, however, as it looks like Netflix is testing a mobile-only subscription for customers in India. According to Economic Times, the mobile-only plan could cost as little as ₹250 ($4), half that of the current lowest option. Netflix alluded to testing new pricing options as far back as October:
We are just getting started in India. We will experiment with other pricing models and see how that does in terms of being able to accelerate our growth and get more access. But even on the existing model, we feel like we have a long runway ahead of us in India.
The mobile-only plan will let customers access Netflix on a single phone or tablet, but even the ₹250 tier is costlier than other streaming services. Netflix will be hoping its vast catalog of content can act as the differentiator, and the service has also greenlit 12 original series and 12 movies from the country to pull in more viewers.
With user growth plateauing in developed countries, the Indian market is key to Netflix's global ambitions. Phones are the primary source of entertainment for a majority of Indians, and as such a mobile-only plan that costs ₹250 will be a smart move from Netflix as it tries to increase its userbase in the country.
