Amazon India launches free video streaming service on shopping app

Amazon India launched a new free video streaming service 'miniTV' in India. The service will be available on Amazon's shopping app and will be ad-supported.

New Delhi: Amazon on Saturday said it has launched a new free video streaming service 'miniTV' in India - a global first - that will allow users to watch curated content across web-series, tech news, food, beauty and fashion, among others.

The service will be available on Amazon's shopping app and will be ad-supported.

'miniTV has professionally created and curated content across web-series, comedy shows, tech news, food, beauty, fashion and more...With the launch of miniTV, Amazon.in shopping app is now a single destination for customers to shop from millions of products, make payments and watch free entertainment videos,' a statement said.

While miniTV is available on Amazon's shopping app for Android phones, it will be extended to iOS app and mobile web over the coming months, it added.

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With this launch, Amazon has two video entertainment offerings in the country – miniTV and Prime Video.

miniTV is free and does not require a separate app, while Prime Video requires a Prime subscription and offers content like Amazon Originals, movies and TV shows in English and 9 Indian languages.

miniTV will offer content from studios like TVF, Pocket Aces; comedians such as Ashish Chanchlani, Amit Bhadana, and Shruti Arjun Anand; tech expert Trakin Tech; fashion and beauty experts such as Sejal Kumar and Malvika Sitlani; and food-related content from Kabita's Kitchen and Gobble.

Content consumption has grown manifold in the last few years, especially amid the pandemic. OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar and Zee5 have seen significant growth in user numbers.

By adding content to e-commerce platforms, companies are hopeful of driving greater engagement and increasing the amount of time spent on these platforms.

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Amazon rival, Flipkart had launched a similar service in 2019. The video streaming service 'Flipkart Videos' is also ad-supported and is available for free for users on Flipkart's app. The content available is a mix of short films and episodic series.

However, data around user number or time spent was not available.

PTI