Now Stream Music or Watch TV Series on Mobile & Pay For It Later

Demand for streaming services has grown in India, but very few people are willing to pay for it, even now.

If you’re one of those users who would rather stream content online through a friend’s account, instead of paying for the service early in the month, then we’ve got good news.

The "use now, pay later" scheme is available for the streaming audience in the country, through Pay U’s LazyPay service. This feature ensures you can stream online content, or music from a library without having to pay as per its subscription date, and instead pay according to your convenience.

For this, LazyPay has joined hands with local streaming players like AltBalaji and Sony Liv for video content, and Gaana is the music-streaming partner.

Most of you might have expected popular platforms like Hotstar, Netflix and Spotify to be part of the list. We’re hopeful these companies will look at offering innovative payment services like this in the near future.

So, how does the watch now, pay later feature work exactly? Anybody can subscribe to Gaana, AltBalaji and Sony Liv using LazyPay and they will be allowed to pay for the service in 15 days through the LazyPay app, which is available for Android and iOS users.

An over-the-top (OTT) viewer in India is spending approximately 70 minutes a day on video streaming platforms, with a consumption frequency of 12.5 times a week, a new report jointly published by Eros Now-KPMG said. 

Getting people to pay for services is a herculean task for companies in India, and streaming players will be hopeful that delaying payment for users could change this trend for the sake of the digital industry.

According to the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook report released by PwC India in June 2019, the subscription video on demand (SVOD) segment is expected to grow at 21.8 percent CAGR from Rs 3,756 crore in 2018 to Rs 10,708 crore in 2023.

Interestingly, the Indian market for music, radio and podcasts has grown from Rs 2,890 crore in 2014, to Rs 5,753 crore in 2018.

With affordable data rates and big-screen smartphones, consumption of video content on-the-go has increased. This data suggests it will grow even further in the coming years.

The same Eros Now-KPMG report pointed out that, in India, internet video traffic is projected to reach 13.5 Exabytes (EB) per month by 2022 – up from 1.5 EB a month in 2017 – with video contributing 77 percent of all Internet traffic by 2022. 

One exabyte is equal to 1 million TB.

While most streaming players do not divulge their subscriber numbers, it’s a well established fact that platforms like Hotstar have accrued more users than a Netflix or Amazon Prime, on the back of its streaming service.

Can people be lured into paying for more service, if they are not shelling out money during the first week of the month? It’s definitely a trend worth keeping an eye on.