Prime Video Indian director Sushant Sreeram launches growth strategy

MUMBAI: Sushant Sreeram, the country director of Prime Video (PV) India, has said that the streaming platform was all set to increase investments in the country.

Talking to the Indian media, Sreeram said, “Our plan for PV in India over the next five years is to double our achievements of the past seven years. Our investment strategy aligns with this goal. We recently announced this plan, and we stand by it.”

He said that the international team has posed a question to the Indian team, asking if they could achieve double the output and provide twice as much content, including shows, movies, and more, to their customers.

“That’s a simple summary of what the five-year plan is,” Sreeram added.

Earlier this year, the PV signed an agreement with the Indian government to boost the country’s creative economy. Sources said that the streaming service has partnered with the government’s office of the principal scientific adviser on a series called Mission Start Ab.

According to the sources, the series comprised seven episodes and followed ten entrepreneurs with innovative ideas designed for India. The entrepreneurs undertook various challenges to scale their businesses and secure funding, with the potential to bring about socio-economic change.

“When compared to shows like Dragon’s Den and others, Mission Start Ab delves much deeper into the many aspects of scaling a startup. Keep in mind that these are not just business plans; these are fully operational businesses seeking support, mentoring, advice, and funding to reach new heights. It’s not just about going from zero to one; it’s about going from one to one hundred,” Sreeram said

Th country director of PV said that the streaming platform’s growth strategy included five key areas, the first was language diversity. He said that around 60% of PV subscribers consumed content in four or more languages, whereas, the platform offered programming in ten Indian languages in wide range of genres.

Sreeram mentioned that 2023 has witnessed diversity in programming lineup, including the family entertainer Happy Family, Conditions Apply, the crime caper Farzi, the golden age of Indian cinema drama Jubilee, the true crime documentary Dancing on the Grave, the thriller Suzhal: The Vortex, and the friendships and love saga Jee Karda.

He further said that the upcoming seasons of popular series like Mirzapur, Made in Heaven, Paatal Lok, and The Family Man were also slated to be released on the platform. “Our perspective is no longer limited to specific genres or sets of genres. We continue to explore and experiment with various formats of programming,” said Sreeram.

He continued by adding that accessibility was the third growth vector for PV India. He stressed the importance of making the content available across various price points and catering to the socio-economic diversity of the country.

He revealed that the service has collaborated with telecom operators and multichannel video programming distributors, while also developing its own product suite, including PV Mobile Edition.

“The fourth growth vector involved expanding the content library through PV Channels, which launched in India in 2021 with eight channels and has now grown to 18, offering an additional 26,000 hours of content per year,” Sreeram said

According to news reports, he said that the final vector was the recent introduction of a movie rental service that did not require a membership. The service offered 5,000 titles, and 95% customers of India’s postal codes were already availing themselves of the option.

Although Sreeram declined to provide specific subscriber numbers (a recent Ampere Analysis study estimated it at 12.4 million), he stated that India has one of the “highest adoption rates of PV anywhere in the world” .