We have democratized consumption by providing content for free: Nikhil Gandhi

There are very few brands In India that understand Bharat and that's what exactly MX Player is trying to achieve over the last three years, said Nikhil Gandhi, Chief Operating Officer, MX Player. Gandhi was speaking at Goafest 2022.

“Through the numbers and scale that we have been able to achieve in three years, we understand that Bharat is not exactly what Bharat means. It means that it is an emotion that is driven by key initiatives that come out of the consumption patterns of consumers,” shared Gandhi.

“Bharat has around 200 million TV homes and 600 billions smartphone users. Nearly 97% of the smartphone users, which is 575 million, are android users, and 65% of them own smartphones costing less than Rs 15000. The average data consumption of these users is less than 0.5 GB per day. And through some of the researches we did, we have figured that data consumption starts picking up in the night. That is because the recharge of that data pack happens in the night for the next day. With that anecdote and insights, we have created the emotion of Bharat by offering our content free. Our app is free, content is free. So free is not an offer, it's actually an emotion,” explained Gandhi.

He further added that FTA channels in the country today have the highest reach because they are free, and that the most consumed video platform in India and globally today is YouTube. “MX Player is the second largest video platform in India with 200 million users. Globally, we have 300 million users,” he mentioned. 

Gandhi further shared that MX Player has become the only Indian app to achieve 1 billion downloads on Play Store. “We are a global business with an average time spend of 56 minutes per user per day. We have truly democratized content consumption by providing access to content free of cost. Ashram is the highest watched show ever on a digital platform. It has been seen by 150 million users.”