MX Player is one of India’s most popular video streaming apps and it feels proud to announce that the South Korean media player will now be owned by an Indian media company. Times Internet has decided to acquire a major stake in MX Player from J2 Interactive for $140 million (approx. Rs 1000 crore)
MX Player has over 350 million users in India and is among the top 10 most downloaded apps in the country. As smartphone lovers are mostly seen in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, MX Player is popular in these cities. It is available for free even for low-end phones and is used as the primary video player.
This deal has made other media companies to see MX Player as the next big thing in the OTT space among names like Netflix, Hotstar, Voot, and Amazon Prime. Times Internet seems to have big plans for MX Player, the company has revealed that it will use it to stream original content. 20 original shows across multiple local languages are expected to launch during the first year after the acquisition.
The huge user base of MX Player is a big positive for Times Internet. Karan Bedi, CEO, MX Player, talked about this acquisition in a recent interview and claimed that MX Player is being downloaded by over 1.2 million users every day. Bedi has been in the online video space for several years now and aims to target young Indians using MX Player.
After the Rs 1000 crore acquisition of MX Player, CEO @karanbedi talks about how Times Internet plans to re-enter the OTT space through the popular video app and how they hope to take on rivals @NetflixIndia & @PrimeVideoIN @Timesinternet @IMPACT_onnet #OTT @srabanalahiri pic.twitter.com/J4KD0Cmt9N
— Neeta Nair (@neetanair88) July 4, 2018
Initially MX Player will adopt the ad-supported model as it will attract the audience and give competition to subscription-based platforms including Amazon Prime and Netflix.
Times Internet is already one of India’s most popular content company with content sharing platforms such as Times of India, Economic Times, Indiatimes, MensXP, iDiva and Speaking Tree. OTT space in India is still young and the entry of such big players can transform the industry into a completely new experience.
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