Apple partners with India’s Bharti Airtel to offer free streaming services, aiming to expand its market presence in India amid fierce competition from Spotify and Disney+ Hotstar.
Bollywood Fever: Apple’s latest partnership with Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, is set to give the iPhone maker a significant boost in the competitive Indian content market.
The U.S. tech giant, which has been focusing on growing its global services revenue, will now offer free music and video streaming to a substantial portion of Airtel’s 281 million customers.
This move is poised to increase the user base for Apple TV+ and Apple Music in a market where Apple has traditionally lagged behind competitors like Spotify and Walt Disney.
India has long been a critical focus for Apple, particularly on the manufacturing front, as the company diversifies its supply chain beyond China. While Apple has made significant strides in producing iPhones in India, its market share in the country’s smartphone sector remains modest at 6%, up from just 2% in 2019, according to Counterpoint Research.
“The move speaks of Apple’s ambitions for India,” said Nitesh Kripalani, former head of Amazon Prime Video in India. “The strategy is a time-tested method to catapult presence in markets it considers important.”
A Strategic Expansion
Apple’s partnership with Airtel mirrors similar strategies it has employed in other markets. For example, in the U.S., Apple has offered Apple Music for free through Verizon mobile data plans since 2019. Similarly, Apple TV+ is included in a Comcast streaming bundle as of May.
In India, Apple Music will soon be available to premium users of Airtel’s Wynk music app, which will eventually be phased out. While Airtel’s postpaid contracts give around 7 million subscribers access to Wynk’s ad-free version, only a small fraction currently use the service, according to a telecom industry source.
This collaboration is expected to benefit both companies. For Apple, it will significantly expand its footprint in a market where it has yet to make a substantial impact. For Airtel, the partnership is a cost-effective way to enhance its service offerings without the need to invest heavily in content creation.
“Airtel realized its strength is distribution, not content creation,” said a source familiar with the deal, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Music Streaming: A Competitive Market
In the music streaming arena, Apple faces stiff competition. While Apple Music offers a catalog that includes Bollywood and regional-language songs tailored to the Indian market, its library is still smaller than that of Spotify, which leads with around 3 million paid users in India. Gaana follows with 1.4 million, Wynk with 500,000, and Apple Music with 200,000, according to industry estimates.
Despite the growing popularity of music streaming in India, only about 7.5 million people paid for audio streaming services last year, out of approximately 185 million users of ad-supported and ad-free apps, according to data from industry group FICCI and consultants EY.
Airtel is expected to pay Apple a per-user fee that is significantly lower than the monthly $1.20 charged for Apple TV+ and Apple Music in India. This arrangement will allow Airtel to reduce its licensing costs while leveraging Apple Music to boost revenue and improve customer retention.
Video Streaming: Apple’s Ongoing Challenge
Apple’s entry into India’s video streaming market has been more challenging. With fewer than 1 million users, Apple TV+ trails far behind market leaders like Disney+ Hotstar, which boasts 38 million users, and Netflix, with an estimated 10 million users.
Despite offering original series such as The Morning Show and Slow Horses, Apple TV+ has struggled to compete with rivals that feature more localized content, including Bollywood films and regional-language productions. Disney and Reliance Industries’ JioCinema, for instance, also stream cricket, India’s most popular sport, further solidifying their dominance in the market.
Airtel plans to offer packages that include several months of free access to Apple TV+, a move that could help Apple get its streaming service into more homes. However, Counterpoint’s Neil Shah cautioned that growth may be hindered by Apple TV+’s relatively limited local optimization.
Conclusion
Apple’s partnership with Airtel represents a strategic effort to increase its market share in India’s rapidly growing digital content space. While the collaboration offers potential for growth, Apple faces significant challenges in catching up with entrenched competitors like Spotify and Disney+ Hotstar. As Apple continues to refine its offerings and expand its reach, the success of this partnership will likely be a key indicator of its future in the Indian market.
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