Amazon India launches free video streaming miniTV on its shopping app

Amazon has launched new free video streaming service 'miniTV' in India - a global first - that will allow users to watch curated content across web series, tech news, food, beauty, and fashion, among others.

With this launch, Amazon has two video entertainment offerings in the country miniTV and Prime Video. The new service will be available on Amazon's shopping app and will be ad-supported. miniTV is free and does not require a separate app, while Prime Video requires a Prime subscription and offers content like Amazon Originals, movies, and TV shows in English and 9 Indian languages.

"miniTV has professionally created and curated content across web series, comedy shows, tech news, food, beauty, fashion and more...With the launch of miniTV, Amazon.in shopping app is now a single destination for customers to shop from millions of products, make payments and watch free entertainment videos," a statement said.

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While miniTV is available on Amazon's shopping app for Android phones, it will be extended to iOS app and mobile web over the coming months, it added.

miniTV will offer content from studios like TVF, Pocket Aces; comedians such as Ashish Chanchlani, Amit Bhadana, and Shruti Arjun Anand; tech expert Trakin Tech; fashion and beauty experts such as Sejal Kumar and Malvika Sitlani; and food-related content from Kabita's Kitchen and Gobble.

Content consumption has grown manifold in the last few years, especially amid the pandemic. OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar, and Zee5 have seen significant growth in user numbers.

By adding content to ecommerce platforms, companies are hopeful of driving greater engagement and increasing the amount of time spent on these platforms.

Amazon rival Flipkart had launched a similar service in 2019. The video streaming service 'Flipkart Videos' is also ad-supported and is available for free for users on Flipkart's app. The content available is a mix of short films and episodic series. However, data around user numbers or time spent was not available.