After a lot of rumors, Times Internet has confirmed that it bought majority stakes in South Korea’s MX Player. At $146 million, this acquisition falls in line with January rumor which stated deal will be in the range of $200 Mn. Times Internet is aiming to build a digital-first video streaming platform atop MX Player.
Times Internet will leverage on MX Players 350 million install base in India, along with more than 175 million monthly active users (MAUs) and 65 Mn daily active users (DAUs). This is second bet for Times Internet in the OTT segment who previously back in September 2016 has introduced its very own OTT app Box TV. However, the reasons for the service shutdown is because of the High customer acquisition cost and lack of control over the cost of content.
As for MX Player, it will still continue to work as an independent entity with teams across India and China. TIL aims to build a content experiences that are designed especially and exclusively for Indian millennials. MX Player will soon allow users to stream the entire content on an OTT platform. The company is investing in premium, original, digital-first content, with the main focus on high-quality Hindi and regional production.
In its first year in India, the platform is expected to launch more than 20 original shows and about 50,000 hours of premium content across all languages. It will also support offline video playback feature.
Gautam Sinha, CEO, Times Internet said:
With over 400 Mn internet users in India, India presents one of the biggest digital entertainment opportunities in the world. And yet, today, most of the content available is either user-generated or repurposed from broadcast television.
MX player spokesperson said:
There is a very large audience and the segment of people who are now using their phones as their primary entertainment device. Most of the content available today is repurposed from TV and is not really created with this large, young audience in mind.