With the next billion internet users set to hail from the Hindi heartlands across the Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities; India’s digital industry promises a host of fresh avenues to explore and expand. Leading with an example, ALTBalaji, armed with the biggest catalog of Hindi originals is focusing on this emerging market. This year, the streaming platform witnessed an incredible 58% viewership from Bharat, 42% from metros, and an addition of 9000 average daily subscriber base in Q2FY21.
For this quarter, ALTBalaji’s focus on directing subscriptions was based on improving customer retention, deeper audience-engagement, and building a robust library of original content. Despite the subsequent lockdown, the platform didn’t deter from its objective of adding 20-24 shows for the year. Furthermore, gaining traction globally, ALTBalaji witnessed a marginal uptick in international subscriptions along with a significant jump in watch-time by 2X in Q2 FY21 as compared to Q2 FY20.
Available to stream at 0.80 paise per day, ALTBalaji continues to maintain the price at Rs.300 for an annual subscription. Being the most economically priced video streaming player in a price-sensitive market has allowed ALTBalaji to expand and make extraordinary strides across the Hindi-speaking heartland.
On ALTBalaji’s incremental subscriber base, Nachiket Pantvaidya, CEO, ALTBalaji, and Group COO, Balaji Telefilms said, “Our strategy is aimed to serve the mass audience across the length and breadth of the country with relatable and high-quality content. Today, people are more inclined toward individual viewing and family viewing. So, we strive to cater to content across multiple touchpoints, genres, formats, and unique storylines. Also, we have led innovation-led alliances that have further aided us in connecting with a new audience segment.”
With an extensive library of 65 originals across genres that cater to all kinds of audiences, the shows at ALTBalaji are a mix of thriller, drama, romance, youth drama, horror, comedy, amongst others. Romantic dramas like ‘Kehne Ko Humsafar Hain’, ‘Karle Tu Bhi Mohabbat’, ‘It Happened in Calcutta’, ‘Baarish’, ‘Dil Hi To hai’ etc. enjoy a growing fandom amongst women in the 25-45 years TG. While on the other hand, thrillers like ‘Apharan’, Fixxer, Boss, ‘Ragini MMS’, ‘Code M’, are consumed by men in the 22- 45 age bracket. In addition to the above, shows such as ‘Mentalhood’, ‘The Test Case’, ‘MOM: Mission Over Mars’, ‘Bose: Dead/ Alive’, ‘The Verdict – State v/s Nanavati’ are being consumed extensively by the urban audience across all age groups.
