A year after Amazon integrated Amazon MX Player into its ecosystem, the two-platform strategy is starting to show clear contours. Prime Video continues to serve paying subscribers seeking premium international and Indian originals, while MX Player — now rechristened Amazon MX Player — has emerged as the company’s mass entertainment arm, delivering free, ad-supported content to a 250-million-strong monthly audience.

“It’s been a very eventful and successful year,” said Karan Bedi, director and head, Amazon MX Player. “With any merger, it’s never easy to execute, but we moved to unified teams, technology stacks, and branding very quickly. From content to advertising, the results have been phenomenal.”

Bedi described MX’s positioning as “India’s largest mass entertainment platform.” “We’re creating content for hundreds of millions of viewers who are coming online, and offering it in a technically sound, low-data environment.”

He noted that India’s digital viewership, estimated at 600–700 million people, has likely already overtaken television. “The transition from TV to digital has happened,” he said. “That has created insatiable demand across every genre, from crime dramas to comedy to romance.”

Content strategy built “customer backward”

Under Amazon, MX Player’s programming slate has evolved around what Bedi calls a “customer backward” approach, where data informs decisions, but creativity leads execution. “We like to say we are data-led but creatively driven,” he said. “Content is ultimately about creating something people want to watch, built by talented creative teams using multiple tools.”

The results are visible in its viewership numbers. Average viewing time has more than doubled — from about 40 minutes to 80 minutes per day on connected TVs, and 25 minutes to 50 minutes on mobile. Hits like Ashram continue to dominate, while new originals such as Rise and Fall, touted as India’s largest digital-first reality show, have exceeded expectations. The platform’s international dubbed content vertical - Videsi, featuring Korean, Turkish, and other foreign shows - has also seen “minutes per customer through the roof.”

Bedi added that the audience base for such dubbed shows is “really sticky,” cutting across metros and smaller towns. “You’d be surprised but some of our highest minutes-per-customer states are places like Odisha and other Tier-2 markets,” he said.

Moreover, MX Player is now testing shorter, snackable formats. “We’ve just soft-launched our micro-drama product called MX Fatafat,” Bedi said. “We saw that people don’t always have 30 or 60 minutes free, they may have five. So we’re experimenting with 60–90 second stories within the main MX app.” The platform expects to scale up the format in the coming months.

The company has also expanded its Videsi portfolio with anime content, tapping into a fast-growing segment in India’s digital entertainment market.

Advertising flywheel

On the advertising front, Amazon Ads India Head Girish Prabhu said the integration of content and commerce is what sets Amazon apart. “The combination of MX Player, Prime Video, Fire TV, Amazon Shopping, and our demand-side platform gives brands a compelling proposition,” he explained. “Our differentiating factor is bringing the right audience insights to brands, not just impressions.”

For advertisers, that means sharper targeting based on shopping and viewing behavior, rather than traditional demographics. “These are trillions of signal combinations—shopping habits, life-stage changes, event participation,” Prabhu explained. “It allows brands to reach the right audiences with context.”

This model has also opened new opportunities for integrated brand storytelling. “Shows like Rise and Fall are unscripted formats where brands can embed themselves directly into the narrative,” he said. “It’s more natural than interruptive ads and more relatable for audiences.”

Over 450 advertisers have partnered with MX over the past year, spanning FMCG giants, device makers, automakers, and D2C players. “D2C brands, traditionally search-driven, are increasingly using video advertising to reach relevant audiences in a more engaging way,” said Prabhu. The company is also using generative AI tools to help advertisers create multilingual campaigns quickly “within 10 to 20 seconds,” as Prabhu put it.

Regional language advertising is growing, though national and English campaigns still dominate. “As more regional content is consumed, personalisation at that level will increase,” he said, adding that creative AI tools and deeper show integrations will help brands adapt regionally without large agency costs.

Why two platforms work

Both Bedi and Prabhu stressed that Amazon’s dual-platform strategy is intentional and complementary. “Prime Video caters to the top 20–25 million households that value premium global content and are willing to pay for it,” said Prabhu. “MX Player serves the broader 400 million-plus base that loves local, mass entertainment and prefers free access supported by ads.”

The twin strategy also strengthens Amazon’s advertising ecosystem. “For brands, this combination means access to both premium and mass audiences,” Prabhu added. “It allows targeted integrations into shows and avoids the old heuristics of demo, geo, and impressions. It’s about driving outcomes, not just views.”