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JioCinema has revealed its new prices, which is not wholly surprising. Being one of the latter entries into a market with well-established companies in terms of subscriber base and content, the OTT platform does bring to mind what parent company Reliance did in the telecoms industry in 2016.

For JioCinema, a single device premium membership costs Rs 29 per month, or Rs 1 per day, while a family plan costs Rs 89 per month, which grants access to four devices. From the initial prices of Rs 59 and Rs 149, respectively, this is a significant decrease. With up to 4K resolution, both options will provide ad-free streaming of HBO, Paramount+, and Peacock programming.

According to Uday Sodhi, the founding partner of Kurate Digital Consulting and the former head of SonyLIV, most individuals these days subscribe to at least two OTT platforms, and persuading them to switch to another is challenging. "JioCinema's decision to lower the entry level to Rs 29 per month will expand the market because a subscriber's out-of-pocket expense is minimal," he clarifies.

To get some understanding, let's dissect the figures. In India, there are over 120 million OTT customers overall, of which 50–60 million pay. To mention a few, it is available on JioCinemas, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Netflix, SonyLIV, and Sun NXT. JioCinema has a small subscriber base of 1-2 million, despite having English content that is mostly driven by HBO and Paramount. Of course, their goal is to raise that figure, which is why they decided to lower tariffs.

The emphasis on Rs 29 or access to one smartphone makes sense strategically given the way the market is set up. Upwards of 60% of the OTT base is thought to originate from this market. An industry tracker adds,  the current Jio telecom user base is already there to be tapped. Since Jio was one of the last OTTs to join the competition, aggressive pricing was only reasonable.

It is anticipated, according to Sodhi, that JioCinema would boost the flow of material between languages. "That is essential if they want to see a significant increase in the subscriber base. The current task is to increase the content and maintain its stickiness in the event that the user base grows.