Amazon merges miniTV, MX Player into Amazon MX Player to firm up streaming space presence

Amazon's streaming ambitions is set to get a leg up with the launch of Amazon MX Player

Amazon on October 7 announced that it is merging two ad-supported streaming services - Amazon miniTV and MX Player - into a single entity called Amazon MX Player to consolidate its presence in India's increasingly competitive video-streaming market.

This move comes after Amazon recently acquired certain assets of MX Player, including its apps and select content from its library.

Moneycontrol was the first to report about Amazon's plans to merge both the streaming services to create Amazon MX Player in September 2024.

The company said that the combined service had over 250 million unique users as of September 2024, who had access to thousands of original shows, popular movies and international series dubbed in local languages, making it one of the largest free streaming services in the country.

Amazon MX Player will offer video content across genres, from thrillers, action and dramas, to coming-of-age stories, and romance. Some of the shows include Aashram, Dharavi Bank, Campus Diaries, Bhaukaal, Raktanchal, Shiksha Mandal, Roohaniyat, Jamnapaar, Dehati Ladke, Hunter, Gutar Gu, Naam Namak Nishaan, Physicswallah, and Yeh Meri Family, along with a large collection of popular Korean, Mandarin and Turkish shows dubbed in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Amazon stated that it will continue to invest in originals and returning seasons of popular shows.

The service will be available to consumers through its mobile apps, Amazon.in Shopping app, Prime Video, Fire TV, and Connected televisions.

“Being part of Amazon will let us continue to delight millions of viewers across the country. We will offer high-quality entertainment and streaming experiences faster than we could have done independently, while continuing to keep the service free" said Amazon MX Player head Karan Bedi.

Bolstering streaming ambitions

The transaction is expected to bolster Amazon’s streaming ambitions in India, a crucial market for its expansion, due to the rising digital video consumption among consumers in the world’s second largest internet market.

Apart from miniTV (now Amazon MX Player), Amazon also operates Prime Video, a subscription-based streaming service which is bundled with its Prime offering.

The move comes at a time when Walt Disney is gearing up to merge its India unit with Reliance Industries as part of a joint venture announced on February 28. The transaction combines the businesses of Viacom18 and Star India to create one of India's largest TV and digital streaming platforms. The Competition Commission of India approved the Rs 70,350-crore merger in August.

With this, two of India’s largest streaming platforms — Disney+ Hotstar, which leads the country’s subscription-based video streaming market, and Jio Cinema, a prominent player in the ad-supported video streaming market — will have a single owner.

The combined entity will capture about 85 percent of India’s video-streaming audience, according to analysts at brokerage firm Bernstein. Other players in this space include Netflix, Zee5 and Sony LIV.

Advertising push

Amazon MX Player will also be a key part of Amazon’s strategy to boost its digital advertising revenue in the country.

The company has said marquee brands such as Mamaearth, Realme, Nissan, Lenovo and WhatsApp have previously either sponsored shows on miniTV, done brand integrations within shows or purchased advertising inventory.

“Today we are bringing together the vast reach of MX Player, with the advertising tech that leverages Amazon’s billions of customer signals," said Girish Prabhu, head of Amazon Advertising India. “It’s about enabling all brands, not just the ones selling on Amazon, to reach and deliver relevant advertising to a very large and engaged base across India. It’s about directly measuring outcomes from the very top of the funnel to the very bottom.”

MX Player's deep penetration in the country’s smaller cities and towns is also expected to help with Amazon’s rural push at a time when it is involved in an intensifying e-commerce battle against Walmart-owned Flipkart.

The online retail giant recently underwent a leadership change in India, appointing company veteran Samir Kumar as the country manager, effective October 1. He took over from Manish Tiwary who abruptly resigned as the India manager in August. Kumar will continue to lead Amazon's consumer businesses in the Middle East, South Africa and Turkey.