
Imagine watching Pushpa: The Rise – Part 01 free with no subscription, only ads. Too good to be true? Well Amazon has done just that! In a shocking development, Amazon Prime has joined hands with MX Player .
To make available some of its major films for absolutely free – Pushpa: The Rise, Drishyam 2, Jai Bhim and Gehraiyaan. Masterstroke or a gamble?
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In 2024, Amazon had acquired MX Player, with over 250 million users in India. What now makes it crucial is that it is mostly OTT Indian viewers who would want to view the free ad-sponsored content and not paid subscription-based content.
And now, wanting to leverage on this gigantic under-leveraged viewership for Pushpa is a call given to its vision. The message here is rather crystal clear-it wants to make premium content available, but to generate money on ad-dollars rather than subscription.
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A win for the consumer: it gets premium movies free, and in return gets to see a commercial. It is, though, a brave move by Amazon, as it’s betting big on AVOD: Advertisement-Based Video-On-Demand, with movies that won’t require subscribers, but carry advertisements.
But would one then like to know if these advertisements would enhance viewership or send blockbusters crashing down?
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This might be the game-changer for the OTT space in India. Would this make Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar include free, ad-supported content so that they may compete with the new strategy from Amazon? Do subscription-based services take a backseat as viewers opt more for free movies with ads?
For the viewer, this is a win – free access to big films. But for Amazon, this is something of a gamble – relying instead on ad revenue to make that money. Will the viewer mind too many commercials? Will prime subscribers feel this paid service being diluted by that new free thing?
Amazon has made daring and innovative decisions by releasing Pushpa and many other super-hit movies absolutely free on MX Player. If the strategy is good, this shall be the way of distributing cinema in the days to come.
If not, Amazon would surely find out the subscription models reign supreme. Of one thing that is certain-it will set streaming in India to a particular kind of direction for the foreseeable future.