Apple set for music, TV streaming fight in India after Airtel deal
Apple's new India content deal to boost digital content presence
Apple Music, Apple TV+ to be offered through Bharti Airtel
US tech giant builds iPhones in India but market share small
Apple lags Spotify, Disney in Indian content market
By Munsif Vengattil and Aditya Kalra
NEW DELHI, Sept 2 (Reuters) -Apple's AAPL.O partnership with India's second-biggest telecoms firm will give the iPhone maker a sorely needed boost in a content market where it lags far behind the likes of Spotify SPOT.N and Walt Disney DIS.N.
The U.S. technology giant, working to boost revenue globally from services including apps, payments and media, is set to offer free music and video streaming to many of Bharti Airtel's BRTI.NS 281 million customers.
The deal is likely to greatly expand the user base for Apple TV+ and Apple Music in a country where Apple has long emphasised the manufacturing side of business to diversify its supply chain beyond China.
Apple builds many of its iPhones in India yet its handsets make up just 6% of the country's 690 million smartphones, versus around 2% in 2019, Counterpoint Research data showed.
"The move speaks of Apple's ambitions for India," said Nitesh Kripalani, former head of Amazon Prime Video in India. "The strategy is a time-tested method to catapult presence in markets it considers important."
In the U.S., Apple has offered Apple Music for free via some Verizon VZ.N mobile data plans since 2019, and its Apple TV+ will feature in a Comcast CMCSA.O streaming bundle from May.
In India, Apple Music will become available to premium users of Airtel's Wynk music app, which will eventually close.
Postpaid Airtel contracts give about 7 million subscribers access to the ad-free version of Wynk but only a small fraction use it, said a telecom industry source who declined to be named as the figures are confidential.
Neither Apple nor Airtel responded to requests for comment outside of regular business hours.
MUSIC BATTLEGROUND
Apple Music is more tailored to the Indian market compared with the mostly English Apple TV+ with content including Bollywood and regional-language songs, though its library is smaller than Spotify's, said Counterpoint co-founder Neil Shah.
Spotify has some 3 million paid users in India, Gaana has 1.4 million, Wynk 500,000 and Apple Music 200,000, said an Indian music industry source who declined to be identified as they were not authorised to share estimates publicly.
Neither Spotify nor Gaana responded to requests for comment outside of regular business hours.
Overall, only around 7.5 million people paid for audio streaming services in India last year out of about 185 million users of ad-supported and ad-free apps, showed data from industry group FICCI and consultants EY.
Airtel will pay Apple a per-user fee "significantly" lower than the monthly $1.20 charged each for Apple TV+ and Apple Music in India, said the telecom industry source.
In return, it will save millions of rupees in licensing as it looks to shut Wynk and use Apple Music to boost revenue and improve customer loyalty, said a second telecom source
"Airtel realised its strength is distribution, not content creation," said the source on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to discuss the matter.
VIDEO STREAMING
Apple is a small player in Indian video streaming, with Counterpoint estimating it has fewer than 1 million users. Disney+ Hotstar is the market leader with 38 million users, while estimates showed Netflix NFLX.O has around 10 million.
Hinting at the market's potential, Netflix has repeatedly said it targets 100 million users, without fixing a time frame.
Apple TV+ is known for original series such as "The Morning Show" and "Slow Horses" however rivals including Netflix and Disney feature more Hindi content with Bollywood actors and even regional-language films.
Disney and Reliance Industries' RELI.NS JioCinema also stream cricket - India's most popular sport - and the two companies are merging their Indian media assets to create the nation's biggest entertainment firm.
Airtel, which as telecoms provider lags only Reliance Jio by subscribers, plans to offer packages with several months' free access to Apple TV+, said the second telecoms source.
Though that will get Apple TV+ into more homes, growth could be hindered as its "offering is still not optimised locally that much," said Counterpoint's Shah.
Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Munsif Vengattil; Editing by Christopher Cushing
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آخر الأخبار
إخلاء المسؤولية: تتيح كيانات XM Group خدمة تنفيذية فقط والدخول إلى منصة تداولنا عبر الإنترنت، مما يسمح للشخص بمشاهدة و/أو استخدام المحتوى المتاح على موقع الويب أو عن طريقه، وهذا المحتوى لا يراد به التغيير أو التوسع عن ذلك. يخضع هذا الدخول والاستخدام دائماً لما يلي: (1) الشروط والأحكام؛ (2) تحذيرات المخاطر؛ (3) إخلاء المسؤولية الكامل. لذلك يُقدم هذا المحتوى على أنه ليس أكثر من معلومات عامة. تحديداً، يرجى الانتباه إلى أن المحتوى المتاح على منصة تداولنا عبر الإنترنت ليس طلباً أو عرضاً لدخول أي معاملات في الأسواق المالية. التداول في أي سوق مالي به مخاطرة عالية برأس مالك.
جميع المواد المنشورة على منصة تداولنا مخصصة للأغراض التعليمية/المعلوماتية فقط ولا تحتوي - ولا ينبغي اعتبار أنها تحتوي - على نصائح أو توصيات مالية أو ضريبية أو تجارية، أو سجلاً لأسعار تداولنا، أو عرضاً أو طلباً لأي معاملة في أي صكوك مالية أو عروض ترويجية مالية لا داعي لها.
أي محتوى تابع للغير بالإضافة إلى المحتوى الذي أعدته XM، مثل الآراء، والأخبار، والأبحاث، والتحليلات والأسعار وغيرها من المعلومات أو روابط مواقع تابعة للغير وواردة في هذا الموقع تُقدم لك "كما هي"، كتعليق عام على السوق ولا تعتبر نصيحة استثمارية. يجب ألا يُفسر أي محتوى على أنه بحث استثماري، وأن تلاحظ وتقبل أن المحتوى غير مُعدٍ وفقاً للمتطلبات القانونية المصممة لتعزيز استقلالية البحث الاستثماري، وبالتالي، فهو بمثابة تواصل تسويقي بموجب القوانين واللوائح ذات الصلة. فضلاً تأكد من أنك قد قرأت وفهمت الإخطار بالبحوث الاستثمارية غير المستقلة والتحذير من مخاطر المعلومات السابقة، والذي يمكنك الاطلاع عليه هنا.
