To understand the nerve of the audience and strategies your programming isn’t just a one-time effort that streaming platforms have to make to get the ball rolling. It is a task they are assigned daily, where they need to re-invent, re-analyse, take risks, make mistakes and try again.
However, in a market out there where there is a pool of content that continues to brim beyond consuming capacities, Amazon probably made a then-bold call to branch out their platform, Prime Video into another avenue in the form of miniTV – which was and continues to be free viewing for everyone. Three years later, miniTV has not only managed to boast its loaded library of content but has received several accolades for its understanding of the audience and staying true to its content presentation. Here’s where we try to understand the logistics and decipher its market positioning
Free! Free! Free! With Ethics & Aesthetics
In an already cutthroat market of streaming wars where India, while a gargantuan market to cater to – also comes with the struggle of pricing and subscription slabs that make or break their positioning ahead. Someone like Netflix had enough capital and global stature to make their trials and errors but never quite branched out themselves continuing to be a subscription-based system.
Then, when Amazon, who was already offering a much cheaper subscription fee for their original content presented miniTV, which did not compromise on its production value or scale while still offering ‘Free’ viewing. The word ‘free’ always attracts a consumer and when that is coupled with entertainment, it only gets better. What worked wonders for miniTV was that ethics and aesthetics never took a backseat where ‘free’ just became an eyeball-grabbing tool but never misled into watching something that deterred your expectations.
The Pulse of The Country & The Youth
As mentioned above, it is one thing to just navigate through possible ideas and trials with expansion of content but it is another to specifically target a particular demographic that is untapped and still. not limited. With miniTV, the branching out was never limited to just more of the same – if they just made more drama originals, international shows, films and so on available on miniTV with the only added advantage of being ‘free’, it defeats the purpose of having another facet to explore. Instead, their vision seemed clear from Day 1 that we needed to get to the pulse of the country and mostly. the youth.
The Youth & The Results
The bigger challenge comes with understanding the youth – because let’s admit it, none of us do! And with the attention span and retainment experience of the young ones out there getting lesser and lesser, it becomes an uphill task. However, miniTV seems to have struck the right balance with this where they manage to cast faces that resonate with the younger people out there – who are spread across social media and the numbers are in millions. For the past year and more, we have seen social media influencers cast in fictional roles, stand-up comedians have their own fictional shows, and already-popular teenage actors have popular shows to themselves, spawning returning seasons.
The list is long to name a few. shows like Please Find Attached, Dillogical, Udan Patolas, Adulting, Official CEOgiri, and Yeh Meri Family among others; the more recent arrivals like Jamnapaar, Dehate Ladke Season 2, Chacha Vidhayak Hai Hamare Season 3, Crushed Season 4, Campus Beats, Half CA, Constable Giprade and even a reality show like Hip Hop India – just accentuate miniTV’c clear understanding of their viewership and constant need to stay up-top.
The Future
This crystal clarity on their content placement with local and even imported content (which also boasts of Korean, Taiwanese, Mandarin, Turkish and many other language shows and films) has only furthered what and how miniTV looks ahead. The subtle rise in their production values, having the more conventionally popular faces be a part of their content and gradually increasing share in the market are indicators how the future looks brighter for them. Indeed not so ‘mini’ anymore. With MX Player content apparently also coming into its bouquet, it’s going to get only bigger and better from here.
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