Amazon doubles down on India’s streaming boom with twin-platform push

Amazon executives laid out a sharp, two-speed strategy to capture India’s fragmented digital entertainment market, splitting its bets across subscription-driven Prime Video and ad-supported Amazon MX Player during the APOS 2025 summit in Bali.

Prime Video Asia Pacific & MENA vice president Gaurav Gandhi, Prime Video India director & originals head Nikhil Madhok, and Amazon MX Player director & content head Amogh Dusad took the stage at the Media Partners Asia-curated event to pitch the logic behind running two parallel streaming brands in one of the world’s fastest-growing video markets.

“India is highly heterogeneous,” said Gandhi. “Prime Video serves subscription-ready users who’ve made streaming their primary entertainment source. Amazon MX Player, meanwhile, targets viewers transitioning from traditional TV, still mobile-first, but not yet subscription-ready.”

While Prime Video has made deep inroads in living-room screens, MX Player claims a reach of over 250 million users, many consuming content on the move. Gandhi added that Prime Video has positioned itself as a hub for premium originals, international titles, content in 10 Indian languages, and bundled services like Apple TV and movie rentals. In contrast, MX Player leans into drama, unscripted shows, dubbed global content, and now, mobile-native short-form videos.

Madhok stressed that Prime Video’s Indian originals are not designed to mimic television. “From day one, our local content had to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with global titles. That means premium, differentiated storytelling with cinematic production values,” he said.

Flagship shows like Made in Heaven, The Family Man, Paatal Lok, and Call Me Bae were built with that philosophy. Even genre shows, Madhok added, are grounded in deeper themes. Khauf, for instance, is technically a horror series but also explores trauma and the challenges faced by women in big cities. Meanwhile, titles like Dupahiya and Panchayat tap into nostalgia and rural memory, offering urban audiences an emotional bridge to their roots.

On the movie front, Prime Video has streamed over 65 direct-to-service premieres in six languages since 2020. It has also co-produced theatrical releases with major studios and is now stepping up with its own theatrical slate under Amazon MGM Studios. “We’re entering a new phase,” said Madhok. “Starting 2026, we’ll release four to six Amazon-produced films in cinemas each year. The first, Nishaanchi, directed by Anurag Kashyap, lands this September.”

At MX Player, the focus is sharply calibrated to its mass-market user base. “We draw our themes from consumer insights,” said Dusad. “Our audience craves aspirational stories, underdog journeys, and narratives that mirror their own rise up the socio-economic ladder.” That has informed projects like Hustler, a franchise centred on India’s startup hustle culture, and Aashram, which has clocked over 200 million viewers.

The platform is also betting big on MX Fatafat– a vertical-format, micro-drama series built for mobile. Each story will be told in 80 to 100 episodes, just one to two minutes long. “We’re innovating not just with narrative but format,” Dusad said. “Fatafat is about meeting users where they are- on the go.”

The two-platform approach also extends to how Amazon works with talent. Gandhi said that more than 50 per cent of Prime Video originals in production involve first-time creators or technicians. “We’re deliberate about growing the creative economy. Dupahiya came from new voices. And now, MX Fatafat opens the door to even more.”

Looking ahead, Gandhi said Amazon remains bullish on India’s streaming future. “We’re still in the early innings. There’s plenty of room for growth- both in AVOD and SVOD. And we’re investing aggressively in both.”

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