Apart from selling its inventory a-la-carte, MX also has its own programmatic ad network which it has integrated with Google. It has also launched MX Advantage, which enables MSMEs to advertise on its platform. The advertisers can also do geo-targeting and reach out to their target audience. “We are also building our own MX Audience Network. We are tying up with publishers which is predominantly what Google does. We will be able to supply a better ROI so that you get your value and we also get our value. We want to be the biggest ad serving platform in the country. So, this is about expanding ad opportunities,” explains Gandhi.

Apart from aggregating shows of broadcasters and launching its own original shows (MX Originals), the OTT platform has also recently ventured into live streaming (MX Live) and gaming (MX Games). The platform earlier this year launched reality show, ‘Lock Upp’, which also had a live stream from the sets of the show. Similarly, in the second season of its popular original show, ‘Ashram’, the OTT platform has created customised games. “With gaming, the engagement has gone up by 1.5 times. What we have seen is that the user base of streamers is steadily growing with every passing week and that is really driving us to take bigger risks as far as content is concerned,” points out Gandhi.

The OTT platform expects its SVOD service to contribute around 10%-15% to its overall revenue in the long run, but direct monetisation says Gandhi would eventually contribute around 25%. “We want to create direct to consumer monetisation opportunities through our gaming in-app purchasing. We’ve just launched online gifting. There are three-four layers of direct monetisation which we are going to build.”

MX has also started investing in branded content under its vertical, MX Studios. “Here, we essentially do a lot of research and then we write a story as a script and take it to the advertiser to check if it suffices for their brand and then we start building the narrative and integrate the advertiser. So, it works for them, it works for us and the users. Last year, we did a series for Abu Dhabi Tourism- Wanderlust. This year, we are doing a show on mixed martial arts with actor Suniel Shetty as the host,” says Gandhi.

The platform claims that after YouTube it’s the second app to get over one billion downloads and that’s what gives it the confidence to surge ahead with a predominantly AVOD business model. So, how far is MX Player from profitability? CEO, Bedi, admits that it is still a while away from profitability. “Nobody in the industry is profitable, it takes a while to get to it. But we are clear that going forward we will replace TV.”

Elara’s Taurani does agree that MX’s strategy has definitely worked, but he feels that a large SVOD base will enable them to compete better with other players. “Content cost is high but the customers in SVOD are sticky,” he says. Coming back to Netflix, for a AVOD model, the platform would definitely relook its content strategy, at least in India. Its current metro-centric content may not work in the AVOD model, as it is all about appealing to the masses.

AVOD Model

Why OTTs such as MX Player and Netflix are batting for AVOD models