Bharti Airtel is offering select post-paid customers a free six-month Apple Music subscription as part of a limited rollout. The rollout will be followed by the introduction of bundled plans featuring Apple Music for wireless users and Apple Music and Apple TV+ for Xstream fibre users.
Sources indicate that the offer is available to select postpaid customers who have also subscribed to Wynk's premium service. The telco is working with Apple to bring special post-paid plans with an Apple Music subscription.
"Dear Wynk user, thank you for humming along and dancing away to your Wynk playlist. As we bid farewell, here’s a gift for you – 6 months Apple Music free with your Airtel Postpaid plan. Stream over 100 million songs ad-free. Claim your offer: i.airtel.in/thanks,” message sent to an Airtel postpaid user read.
Bharti Airtel didn’t respond to Moneycontrol’s queries.
Playing next: Apple Music, TV+
The move follows Airtel's decision to shut down its decade-old music-streaming platform, Wynk Music, due to its unsustainable monetisation model. The employees have been reassigned within Airtel's ecosystem.
Launched in 2014, Wynk Music generated annual revenue of around Rs 250–Rs 300 crore. It offers features such as offline downloads, caller tunes, podcasts and multilingual streaming.
Despite its revenue, Wynk could not compete with bigger rivals.
The Wynk app has now transitioned to Hellotunes, allowing users to set just ringback tones.
In August, Airtel announced a strategic partnership with Apple, offering Apple Music and Apple TV+ subscriptions bundled with Airtel Xstream fibre, premium wifi and select postpaid plans.
The partnership with Airtel will also allow Apple to acquire quality subscribers through this strategic partnership.
Airtel will offer an Apple Music subscription at a much better and discounted rate than Apple’s pricing. Such plans will remain exclusive to Airtel customers and unavailable through any other telco.
Apple and Airtel are working on a carrier billing alliance as part of the partnership, which will help Apple monetise its OTT and music streaming services.
India’s music streaming market, with around 185 million active users in 2023, saw only 4 percent paying for subscriptions, according to an EY-FICCI report. Free alternatives like YouTube and FM radio pose significant challenges for platforms to convert users into paying subscribers. The low profitability has sparked concerns about potential consolidation or closures within the sector.
At 1.13 pm, Bharti Airtel was trading flat at Rs1,567.80 on the National Stock Exchange.
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