The Indian arm of American streaming service Netflix grew more than 700 per cent during 2018-19, recording revenues of Rs 466.7 crore for FY19 with a net profit of Rs 5.1 crore, according to its filing with the registrar of companies, reports The Economic Times. The Reed Hastings-owned video-on-demand platform had a turnover of Rs 58 crore with Rs 20 lakh net profit in FY18.
To be sure, the Netflix game plan in India is focused on creating local content with mainstream movie names and penetrating deep into mass centres and small towns. This July, the American streaming giant, introduced a mobile-only subscription plan in the country at Rs 199 a month and says it’s been getting good results from the new offering. The Rs 199 plan was Netflix’s first mobile-specific option anywhere in the world and its fourth India plan in addition to the existing basic (Rs 499), standard (Rs 649) and premium (Rs 799) plans.
Netflix’s range of partnerships includes one with Dharmatic Entertainment, the digital content arm of Bollywood filmmaker Karan Johar’s company Dharma Productions and Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment, for a slate of original films and shows. Apart from big-ticket original Indian web shows like Sacred Games and Bard of Blood, it is also looking at feature films including Johar’s Drive and Guilty, Ajay Devgn’s Tribhanga starring Kajol, horror anthology Ghost Stories, Dibakar Banerjee’s Freedom and Atul Sabharwal’s Class of ’83, produced by Red Chillies.
“There are many challenges, but we are in investment mode in India. And for a long time, we will be spending more on local content productions than we are getting back. But that is part of having the long-term view,” Netflix founder and chief executive officer Reed Hastings had said on the sidelines of a slate event for the Asia Pacific region last year.
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