Netflix on Wednesday rolled out its mobile-only plan in India, a first for the company, at a price about 60% cheaper than its current standard plans starting at Rs 499. The US-based video streaming company is betting on its cheaper mobile deal to broaden the audience base and widen accessibility. Nigel Baptiste, director, partner engagement, tells FE’s Asmita Dey about the company’s plans for India and the partnerships it is looking at. Excerpts:

You have partnered with a couple of telecom service providers and a clutch of DTH (direct-to-home) service providers. Are you looking at more such partnerships?

For us, it is not about identifying just individual partners. We want to partner with everyone in the Indian market. We are in conversation with a lot of partners, but cannot name them at the moment.

Also read: Netflix India drops prices of old subscriptions as it goes mobile only with new Rs 199 plan

How have partnerships added to your growth in India?

It contributes on various levels. At the basic level, it is about getting eyeballs on to our content. Another level up from there is about figuring out where we can innovate in future. Sorting out issues regarding payments is another area of importance. It needs to be ensured that everything between the member and the content — all the frictions — is eliminated. Making payments simpler is another way to look at it.

At present, Netflix accepts payments only via credit and debit cards. Are you open to partnering with companies like Paytm that have become increasingly popular in India?

Yes. You should assume that we are talking to all partners on ways of making access to Netflix service, paying for the Netflix service and getting better content.

The Youtube app comes in-built with android phones. Is Netflix also looking at a similar arrangement with handset manufacturers for the India market?

Yes, we are discussing it with our partners. Having Netflix pre-loaded in phones so that consumers do not have to go to the app store and download is a large part of a conversation we are having with our handset manufacturer partners. At the end of the day, handset manufacturers and distributors want to make their customers happy. It is the same thing we want.

Could you give us a sense of the investment you have made in forging these partnerships?

This is a fundamental way of how we do business and we do not quantify it. If we did not have these partnerships, we would not have been successful.

What are the challenges you are facing in India?

Some of the challenges are aspirational. There are tens of million of set-top boxes in people’s homes and we would love Netflix to be in all of them. Trying to figure out different types of devices in people’s homes, which ones are Netflix ready, which are not and how do we align them with the next generation devices have been a challenge. That is a challenge in every market, not just unique to India. But because of the scale of India, that has been a little bit more challenging. But when we think about investments we are making in here, it is for a long period of time, so we will learn as we grow.