The companies plan to offer “YouTube Recharge,” a pay-as-you-go plan for YouTube data delivered over 3G, to Tata DoCoMo subscribers in India. The deal will also include access to a video streaming service from Apalya Technologies, a Hyderabad-based provider of live TV and video on demand. Although YouTube is known as a video service, it’s also the most widely-used music streaming platform in the world; Google is known to be planning a paid music service based on the YouTube brand that could be launched later this year.
It’s the second such experiment YouTube has conducted, following its June introduction of a discounted video and data service in Malaysia through a partnership with DiGi Telecommunications. Both offer YouTube access for renewable fees, over and above any existing cellular data plan.
Under the new arrangement, Indian consumers will be able to pay for video by the day or on weekly plans. A one-day complement of 100 MB would cost nine rupees, or about 15 cents, while a week-long purchase of 300 MB would cost 39 rupees, or 65 cents. That represents a discount of up to 50% from existing mobile data rates, Tata Teleservices marketing executive Gurinder Singh Sandhu said in a statement.
For some consumers in India, that may be a cheaper alternative than paying for a monthly music subscription, although YouTube’s library isn’t as comprehensive as most streaming services’ are. The Dhingana service, which featured a catalog of Indian music but ceased operations and was sold to Rdio in March, cost $1.99 per month; Rdio plans to launch an Indian service under its own name later this year. Pricing of streaming services in Asia is often lower than in Western countries, where monthly music access typically costs about $10 for desktop and mobile; Rdio and Spotify, for example, cost between roughly $1.70 and $5 for full access in the Southeast Asian markets where they’re available.
No Western service has yet captured a large share of the Indian music market. A study issued in May by brand marketing specialist Jana Mobile showed a fragmented app market led by Bollywood specialists SongsPK, Saavn, and Hungama. Music services have shown high interest the region, where mobile and smartphone penetration is high.
A Comscore study reported last year that Google’s video services -- primarily YouTube -- delivered 2.1 billion streams to Indian viewers in one month, representing more than half the 3.7 billion online videos served up in the country.
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