Tata DoCoMo to make online video more affordable in India

 In an effort to make video content more affordable to a large base of mobile Internet users in the country, Tata DoCoMo, in partnership with YouTube and Apalya Technologies, has announced the launch of a video data plan called “YouTube Recharge”, a first-of-its-kind in India.

Through this initiative, Tata DoCoMo will be catering to a key consumer demand of providing affordable and open access to popular video sharing sites like YouTube and Apalya’s Live TV streaming service by bringing in transparent and affordable pricing to the end-users.

Gurinder Singh Sandhu, Head – Marketing Mobility, Tata Teleservices, said, “We have always believed in providing an open and easy access to Internet to our subscribers with the best-in-class network at affordable rates. With this new product offering, we are the first service provider in India to enable our users to enjoy affordable access to a vast repository of premium and popular video content on YouTube and to live TV channel content available on Apalya’s Mobile TV service. With the YouTube Recharge plan, we are bringing down the barriers that inhibit users from enjoying their favourite video content on mobile by bringing down the cost by over 50 per cent.”

The new YouTube Recharge plan will enable mobile Internet users to enjoy full access to their favourite content, whether it is Bollywood music, educational videos and beauty tutorials on YouTube, or live TV programming on Apalya’s Mobile TV. Research shows that online video consumption is pegged at 3.7 billion videos per month in the country. According to comscore, the total online video audience in India saw growth of over 70 per cent in 2013 with the average viewer watching 18 per cent more videos and spending 28 per cent more time on viewing.

About 40 per cent of the traffic on YouTube now comes from mobile phones and tablets, and the proliferation of smartphones in combination with affordable data plans can spur the growth of online video consumption in India.