Discovery, India’s one of the leading real-life entertainment networks, has forayed into the Indian OTT landscape with the launch of ‘Discovery Plus’, a new D2C streaming app, to meet the need of a differentiated product offering premium real-life entertainment.
Priced competitively with an introductory offer of Rs. 299 per annum, the app has been specifically developed and curated for India. In the initial phase, the company will reach out to a 25 million strong base of core TV infotainment consumers across Tier I and Tier II towns (defined as those who watch over three hours of infotainment every month).
“The consumer is spoilt for choice in the scripted content space but doesn’t have a dedicated offering in the unscripted space – a place we intend to fill with the launch of Discovery Plus,” said Discovery South Asia managing director Megha Tata. “Our large global library of 300,000 hours of premium content which gets replenished every year, to nearly about 8000 hours a year, and all this content is owned by us. And a lot of that content has not been seen in India. So clearly, there is an opportunity for us to bring in more content into India, on our platform, which is talking to them in their own convenience, time and device.”
Discovery Plus will offer Premium subscribers a large selection of never-seen-before Premium Discovery titles, must-watch documentaries, India originals and exclusive acquisitions. Free users of the app will have access to all-time favourites from the Discovery library. Additionally, a unique destination titled ‘Shorts’ will feature hundreds of free short-form videos that will satisfy the new and emerging Indian mobile user looking for infotainment on the go.
The content will be curated from the world’s most trusted content brands such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, BBC, TLC, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, ID, Food Network, HGTV, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel, DIY Network, Motor Trend and VICE.
Discovery Plus will house thousands of hours of marquee programmes featuring Running Wild with Bear Grylls, Man vs Wild, Expedition Unknown, River Monsters, Mighty Rivers, Into the Unknown, Cake Boss and many more. It will also have 4,000+ hours of content at launch spanning across 40+ genres in the language of your choice. Kids-friendly shows like Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, Crikey! It’s The Irwins, Kids Baking Championship, The Cute Ones, How Do They Do It?, The Great Indian Factory and more.