Reality TV Streaming Service hayu Makes India Debut

SUMMARY

hayu features on-demand reality television episodes, true crime documentaries and other TV shows

Most of the content on the platform is originally aired by NBCUniversal’s networks including Bravo and E!

The video OTT market in India was valued at INR 8698 Cr rupees ($1.1 Bn) in FY 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 30.73% between FY2022 and FY2026 to reach INR 25,405 Cr

Subscription-based reality-show streaming OTT platform hayu made its India debut earlier this month according to a tweet by the company and its website.

Launched in 2016 by NBCUniversal, which is a division of Comcast, Hayu features on-demand reality television episodes, true crime documentaries and other TV shows. Most of the content on the platform is originally aired by NBCU’s networks such as Bravo and E!, including shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians (KUWTK), The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Jersey Shore.

“We cooked! We decorated! We made it nice! hayu is now available in India, so get ready to binge the best reality TV, ad-free.” tweeted the brand’s official handle. According to the service’s website, it will cost INR 349 for three months and INR 999 for 12 months.

According to an Inc42 Plus report, there are more than 40 Video OTT (over-the-top) players active in the country and 30% of OTT consumers prefer to consume content in regional languages with Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Bengali, and Hindi being the most preferred language.

With high bandwidth internet, low mobile data tariffs and increasing smartphone penetration, the OTT industry is growing faster than content producers can keep up. The total number of internet users in the country has risen from 795 Mn at the end of December 2020 to 825.3 Mn at the end of March 2021, registering a quarterly growth rate of 3.79%, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Among these 825.3 Mn internet subscribers, wired internet users make up 23 Mn while wireless subscribers make 799.31 Mn. The video OTT market in India was valued at INR 8698 Cr rupees ($1.1 Bn) in FY 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 30.73% between FY2022 and FY2026 to reach INR 25,405 Cr.

Earlier this month, Indian OTT app Pocket FM had raised $22.4 Mn in a Series B funding round led by Lightspeed. Times Group and Tanglin Ventures also participated in the round.

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