Amazon Prime Video, the subscription video-on-demand streaming and rental service, has collaborated with video streaming platform FanCode to launch its first dedicated sports channel in India. Through the partnership, the platform will provide access to more than 15 global and domestic sports such as cricket, football, rugby, kabaddi, basketball, and horse racing to viewers in the country. The channel will be available at an introductory offer price of Rs 249. Prime members can purchase an annual add-on subscription to access it.
Prime Video said that it aims to provide a single destination for customers to access a range of premium content from multiple video streaming services. Vivek Srivastava, head, Prime Video Channels, Prime Video, India, said, “While our entertainment preferences are delightfully diverse across the country, we are all ardent sports fans. All forms of sports have such strong, passionate fan following and we would like to make access to a diverse array of sports easy.”
This partnership comes at a time when competition for online cricket streaming rights has heated up. Disney+Hotstar is streaming the World Cup for free with features such as AI-based video clarity and a live feed with player stats. Jio Cinema’s penetration has jumped 4X on the back of free IPL streaming earlier this year.
FanCode has streamed more than 45,000 hours of live sports content in the four years since its inception. It also serves as a sports-related online marketplace. Yannick Colaco, co-founder, FanCode, said, “FanCode wants to reach every sports fan across the country and this association with Prime Video is a step in that direction.”
Some of FanCode’s exclusive rights and partnerships include ICC Pathways, Cricket West Indies, EFL, CONMEBOL, Volleyball World & FIBA. Subscribers can also watch tournaments such as the Carabao Cup, Women’s Big Bash League, FIFA U17 World Cup, Barclays Women’s Super League, AFC Champions League, AFC Cup, and Yuva Kabaddi, among others. In addition to these, subscribers will also get access to the Super Smash and England tour of the West Indies later in the year, the company stated in a release.
The content partnership will help both these platforms leverage each other’s user base, said Karan Taurani, senior vice-president at Elara Capital. “In India, IPL has cornered almost 70% in terms of ad spends on sports. If you add international matches and bilateral games, this number comes close to 93-94%. All these rights have recently been renewed and are with platforms such as JioCinema, Viacom, Zee, and Disney Hotstar. Prime Video and FanCode might not be able to offer any big-ticket content to the Indian cricket audience,” added Taurani. Given that, Taurani said, the duo must work to build up the non-cricket sports franchise. It could also explore sub-letting/sub-franchising its content for an international audience.
One thing going for FanCode is its unbundled, sachet offerings wherein viewers can subscribe and watch any one particular tournament/match for a nominal amount. This means subscribers can independently buy standalone tournaments on the FanCode platform, experts said. Currently, among the OTT operators in India, Disney+ Hotstar dominates the subscription market with over 40 million subscribers, despite its loss of over 12 million subscribers in the June 2023 quarter. In comparison, Amazon Prime Video has 20 million and Netflix has 6.5 million subscribers.