MX Player partners with DistroTV

MX Player, the video streaming service owned by Times Internet, has partnered with DistroTV, an independent, free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) app, via an app-in-app integration. MX Player users in India will now be able to stream DistroTV’s content line-up for free.

DistroTV features more than 270 channels globally and 180 channels in India and growing, ranging from news, sports, movies, music and entertainment, and lifestyle content. This includes original content and new channel offerings in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, English and Punjabi, among others.

“We are bringing the best of Indian and international FAST content to Indian audiences. This partnership will bring content across both mobile devices and connected TVs,” Navdeep Saini, co-founder and CEO of DistroScale, parent company of DistroTV said in a statement.

Vikas Khanchandani, chief executive, DistroScale, India, SEA (south east Asia ) and MENA (Middle East and north Africa), said this partnership that will help content owners access massive digital reach across devices, is extremely symbiotic as both organisations are strong AVoD (advertising video-on-demand) proponents.

“We are constantly looking to give even more great entertainment and are committed to providing a best-in-class user experience for our viewers. Our partnership with DistroTV is fantastic news for our customers as it gives them a larger and diverse bouquet of entertainment,” an MX Player spokesperson said in a statement.

To be sure, with video streaming platforms realizing that subscription alone may not be sufficient for sustained business growth, they are increasingly adopting ad-supported models to cater to the price-sensitive Indian audience, said experts.

While Amazon is developing separate ad-based offerings such as miniTV, other platforms like Aha Video offer both ad-supported and subscription-based access to the same content. ZEE5 also offers free streaming of select shows and short-form videos. Live Mint