Amazon is reportedly in talks with Times Internet to explore the acquisition of MX Player, one of the largest on-demand video streaming services in India.
Scenario
This is part of the e-commerce giant’s plans to expand its entertainment ambitions in the key overseas market.
Deliberations are still going on and it may not result in a deal, three sources cautioned.
The terms of the deal are yet to be finalized.
At least two more players — including Zee-Sony — have expressed interest in acquiring the Times Internet-owned app.
Value proposition
This is something remarkable for MX Player, which was acquired by the Indian conglomerate Times Internet for $140 million in 2018.
Popular for supporting a wide range of video formats and reliability on low-cost Android smartphones, has expanded to original content and has amassed more than 300 million users globally.
MX Player has gained wide adoption in part by offering its wide video catalog that includes access to live cable TV channels at no charge to consumers.
It makes most of its revenue through ads.
Amazon India
Amazon, which has deployed over $7 billion in India in the past decade, has long been aggressively competing for a slice of the Indian video market.
It currently offers Prime Video subscription (and Prime membership) at cut-rate prices in India and also maintains a free, ad-supported video streaming service here.
Google’s YouTube presently dominates India’s video market with about half a billion monthly active users.
In comparison, Prime Video and Netflix have fewer than 40 million monthly active users in the country.
Huge userbase
MX Player, which counts India as its largest market, competes mainly with YouTube and Disney’s Hotstar, which has over 50 million subscribers and more than 150 million monthly active users in the country.
MX Player claims it has over 150 million active users in India.
It apparently last raised a venture round in 2019, when it received an investment of $110.8 million in a funding round led by Tencent.
That round valued MX Player at $500 million.
