The service, which began with 8,000 hours of content, will bring 1,000 hours of fresh content each year, and target the 18-54 age group with a skew towards women, while increasingly offering Hindi subtitles on its shows.
Media experts said the OTT market may be maturing with such specifically- targeted services, but any new platform will be limited in audience appeal without offering local language content.
“We have been carrying out market research in India for over a year now as part of which we spoke to a large number of women and realized that there is a significant base that would consider a US reality TV service," Hendrik McDermott, managing director, direct-to-consumer, global at NBC Universal, had said in an earlier interview to Mint.
The platform is currently present in 29 countries, including the UK, Australia and Ireland, and has been looking for expansion opportunities, McDermott said, adding that the platform would, however, prefer to focus on a single genre.
Shows such as Keeping Up With the Kardashians, The Real Housewives, Top Chef, Million Dollar Listing and Family Karma, among others, are available on the service, with new episodes being added every day and older seasons being streamed as well.
The platform has a 90% skew towards women, especially those belonging to the 18-54 age group or even those slightly younger. A three-month subscription to hayu costs Rs. 349 and an annual membership costs ₹999.
The company will focus on content distribution and not production at the moment, McDermott had said, explaining why there are no plans for local Indian originals yet.
