This deal will make Apple streaming accessible to thousands in the most populous nation in the world.
The Airtel deal will expand the user base for Apple TV+ and Apple Music in India. Apple wants to highlight their manufacturing to expand their supply chain beyond China. Also, Apple builds many of their phones in India. Their phones are only 6% of the country's 690 million smartphones.
`The move speaks of Apple's ambitions for India,` said Nitesh Kripalani, the former head of Amazon Prime Video in India. `The strategy is a time-tested method to catapult presence in markets it considers important.` Apple streaming has the most English-language content. In India, they are a small player with a $28 billion media and entertainment market.
The Airtel deal comes as competition shrinks. The arrangement follows an $8.5 billion fusion of the Indian media assets of Reliance and Walt Disney. `Apple TV+ will come bundled with premium Airtel WiFi and Postpaid plans,` said Airtel in a statement on Tuesday. In India, Apple Music will be available to premium users of the Airtel Wynk music app, which will close.
Apple streaming music is more customized to India compared with the mostly English Apple TV+ with content including Bollywood and regional songs. In comparison, Spotify is another music giant and has about 3 million paid users in India. Wynk has 500,000, and Apple Music has 200,000. India has only 7.5 million people who paid for music streaming services last year.
Airtel India said they will pay Apple a per-user fee `considerably` lower than the monthly $1.20 for Apple TV+ and Apple Music in India. This deal will save many rupees in licensing. It aims to shut down Wynk and use Apple Music to boost income and enhance customer loyalty. `Airtel realised its strength is distribution, not content creation,` said a source.
The deal with Airtel India will increase the popularity of Apple TV+. Apple TV+ is known for original series like `The Morning Show` and `Slow Horses.` The popularity of the other streaming platforms comes from the massive features of Hindi content with Bollywood actors and regional-language films. Airtel India wants to offer packages with various months of free access to Apple TV+. This plan will ensure that Apple will be presented in more homes. Growth could be centered on their `offering is still not optimised locally that much.`
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