OTT APAC Growth

Netflix’s penetration of subscription OTT video users in Asia-Pacific will advance from 11.8% this year to 14.3% in 2020. Aside from a lack of localized content—Australia withstanding—its challenges are the same as other OTT players in the region. Asia-Pacific is home to one of the most competitive OTT markets in the world. The region has the highest growth potential for subscribers and Netflix and local video services are building libraries of content to drive interest. OTT investment into Asia-Pacific will spur the fastest subscriber growth rate worldwide in 2018, rising 35.2% to 331.5 million.

In India, consumers are opting to stick with traditional TV and ad-supported platforms like Hotstar and YouTube. High prices and a lack of localized content on OTT platforms have deterred adoption. Local players Zee and Viu offer programs in a handful of dialects, catering to a wide number of consumers. Both Netflix and Amazon Prime Video primarily provide content in English and Hindi. Prime Video is addressing this issue through the addition of regional titles, whereas Netflix has not yet made the same investment. In 2018, only 1.7% of internet users in India will watch Netflix.