Apple is setting the stage for a significant partnership with Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom provider. The tech giant has some ground to make up against rivals like Spotify and Walt Disney.
Apple’s goal is to boost its global revenue from services such as apps, payments, and media by offering free music and video streaming to a large portion of Bharti Airtel’s 281 million customers. This collaboration is anticipated to greatly enhance the user base for Apple TV+ and Apple Music in India, a market where Apple has primarily concentrated on manufacturing to broaden its supply chain beyond China, according to Reuters.
While a substantial number of iPhones are produced in India, Apple devices represent only 6% of the country’s 690 million smartphones, up from roughly 2% in 2019, based on data from Counterpoint Research.
The move reflects Apple’s ambitions for India. This strategy is a proven approach to enhance its presence in markets it deems significant.
In the United States, since 2019, Apple has been providing Apple Music at no cost to certain Verizon mobile data plan subscribers, and starting in May, Apple TV+ will be included in a Comcast streaming package. In India, Apple Music will be accessible to premium users of Airtel’s Wynk music app, which is expected to shut down eventually.
Currently, around 7 million subscribers benefit from Airtel’s postpaid contracts that offer access to the ad-free version of Wynk; however, a telecom industry source, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitive nature of the data, indicated that only a small percentage of these users actively utilize the service.
Neither Apple nor Airtel commented outside of regular business hours. According to Neil Shah, co-founder of Counterpoint, Apple Music, which features content such as Bollywood and regional-language songs, is more suited to the Indian market compared to the primarily English-language Apple TV+, although its library is smaller than that of Spotify.
In India, Spotify boasts approximately 3 million paying subscribers, while Gaana has 1.4 million, Wynk has 500,000, and Apple Music has 200,000, according to an anonymous source from the Indian music industry who was not authorized to disclose these figures publicly. Overall, only about 7.5 million individuals subscribed to audio streaming services in India last year, out of an estimated 185 million users utilizing both ad-supported and ad-free applications, as reported by industry group FICCI and consultants EY.
Airtel will pay Apple a per-user fee that is “significantly” lower than the $1.20 monthly charge for Apple TV+ and Apple Music in India, according to a source in the telecom industry.
In return, Airtel anticipates saving millions of rupees in licensing fees as it plans to close Wynk and leverage Apple Music to increase revenue and enhance customer loyalty, according to another telecom source. In the Indian video streaming market, Apple holds a minor position, with fewer than 1 million users, as estimated by Counterpoint.
Disney+ Hotstar dominates the market with 38 million users, while Netflix has around 10 million, according to estimates. Highlighting the market’s potential, Netflix has expressed its ambition to reach 100 million users in India, although it has not provided a specific timeline for this goal.
Apple TV+ is recognized for its original series, including “The Morning Show” and “Slow Horses.” However, competitors like Netflix and Disney provide a greater variety of Hindi content, featuring Bollywood films and regional-language movies.
Additionally, Disney and Reliance Industries’ JioCinema broadcast cricket, which is the most popular sport in India. These two companies are merging their Indian media assets to create the largest entertainment company in the country. Airtel, the second-largest telecom provider by subscriber count after Reliance Jio, intends to offer packages that include several months of complimentary access to Apple TV+, according to a second telecom source.
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