Vodafone Idea is determined to provide a hiccup free network amalgamated with premium OTT content: Avneesh Khosla, Vodafone Idea

PwC, in a recent report, has revealed that the global OTT video market is doubling in size between 2019 and 2023 to $72.8 billion. Contributing immensely to that global market growth is India's OTT video market. Witnessing this bubble, Indian telecom operators have redefined its selling strategies to orient their voice and data plans to suit the increased demand from subscribers for OTT and other entertainment services.

Avneesh Khosla, Operations Director – Marketing, Vodafone Idea Ltd, in an interaction with VoicenData, describes how Vodafone Idea is providing a single platform to its subscriber base to view OTT video content and how the service provider is scaling up and unifying its entertainment services to retain subscribers amidst severe competition in the industry. Few excerpts:

VoicenData: What is exclusive to India's Vodafone Idea entertainment services?

Avneesh Khosla: Entertainment services under the ambit of Vodafone Idea are targeted and the best part is that they are ad-free and free of cost. The video content through Vodafone Play and Idea Movies and TV app is extremely easy to access as there is a vast variety of content to choose from. We provide an array of content varying from Linear TV, Hollywood and Bollywood films, to originals and to regional languages. To provide our customers with supreme choices we are leveraging our content partnerships with OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, ZEE5, Lionsgate, ShemarooMe, SonyLIV, SUN TV, Hoi Choi, etc. We aim to treat all our subscribers at parity and do not have different categories of content for different consumers. With these partnerships, the accessibility of grasping content has become a lot easier and our aim to give our users a taste of premium content is met.

To provide our customers with supreme choices we are leveraging our content partnerships with OTT platforms like Amazon Prime, ZEE5, Lionsgate, ShemarooMe, SonyLIV, SUN TV, Hoi Choi, etc.

VoicenData: How can subscribers enjoy the OTT services provided by Vodafone Idea?

Avneesh Khosla: Vodafone Idea believes that entertainment is an important aspect of people’s lives and with today’s lifestyle people do not have much time for entertainment. Therefore, they utilize their time while traveling, before going to bed, etc. and consume content on hand held devices like smartphones and tablets.  We strive to provide a hiccup-free network so that people can take advantage of our premium amalgamation of the network and OTT content. Vodafone Idea’s content apps—Vodafone Play, Idea Movies, and TV app enables subscribers to access finest content which is at no additional cost. We also focus primarily to penetrate in the regional markets and thus, have multilingual content.

We strive to provide a hiccup free network so that people can take the advantage of our premium amalgamation of the network and OTT content.

VoicenData: Who are your target audience?

Avneesh Khosla: The subscriber pool of Vodafone Idea comprises of a balanced number of rural, semi-urban and urban population. We understand that entertainment unifies all consumers irrespective of their demographic profile. Because of the advancements in technology and growth in content platforms, people from all regions wish to experience all sorts of content. In fact, a total of 76% data consumption is of video content. The major hiccup that people were formerly facing was the inaccessibility of regional content. With the recent partnerships of Vodafone Idea, this barrier has been mostly eradicated. Now the subscribers can choose to watch video content of their choice in their preferable language anytime anywhere.

The major hiccup that people were formerly facing was the inaccessibility of regional content. With the recent partnerships of Vodafone Idea, this barrier has been mostly eradicated.

VoicenData: How are the data plans designed to suit the subscription to the entire entertainment package?

Avneesh Khosla: Vodafone Idea has a large pool of packs and plans as per customer suitability basis the varying volumes of data to be accessed. We aim for the customers to yield maximum value for the content they are accessing, and we have a variety for that. Plans like Amazon Nirvana on Idea connection and Red for Vodafone is easily available and very viable for the customers.

We have various types of subscribers with varied demands on the usage of their connection. For instance, there are some people who watch on-the-go content and use heavy amount of data for live streaming or downloads, while there are some who have numerous international calls to make. In such cases, we try to take a segmented approach and come out with special and targeted plans. As the name suggests, we provide demand-driven plans and offers for maximum satisfaction to our subscribers. These are not rolled out as our other plans but are made available to the people who most require it as per their needs.

Plans like Amazon Nirvana on Idea connection and Red for Vodafone is easily available and very viable for the customers.

VoicenData: How have the plans and unique video content services boosted subscription numbers for Vodafone Idea?

 Avneesh Khosla: Nowadays, having a mobile connection is much more than just calling or messaging. Today, people keep an eye out for new and upcoming offers and plans which their operator is providing. Basis that, their choice keeps dwindling. Vodafone Idea aims to be on top as a content provider and a large chunk of our subscriber base obtain content on Vodafone Play and Idea Movies and TV app. Both the apps have 10M plus downloads and the plus point of providing a variety of content across genres and languages free of cost.

VoicenData: What are the future plans to beat the competition and retain subscribers? What more is Vodafone Idea going to give its subscribers under the entertainment services?

Avneesh Khosla: Our subscribers are the backbone of the company and to provide them with maximum fulfillment and satisfaction, we are planning to expand the horizon of the variety of content and the languages. We aim to serve maximum to our subscribers on one platform in hope that they would not have to struggle with multiple applications. Along with that, the satisfaction which people get in enjoying the content in their native language is unparalleled. We hope to keep spreading that happiness across our subscriber base and plan to build on it. We will continue to drive a large innovation agenda and deliver a superior quality of experience to our customers.