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Business Standard

BBC Studios focuses on BBC Player in India, partners with Tata Play Binge

BBC Player, the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service of BBC Studios, is the key focus area for driving BBC Studios' digital innovation in India, as it announced a new partnership with Tata Play Binge, an OTT aggregation platform, on Thursday, a senior executive told Business Standard. Following this, content from BBC Player will be available through Tata Play Binge. Previously, content from BBC Player was available through Amazon Prime Video as an add-on subscription in India. 'We [BBC Studios] want to invest our time, energy and creativity in growing the platform and understanding the audiences that watch content on Tata Play Binge and, accordingly, curate content that sort of fits with their [consumers'] mindset and sync the BBC Player brand. That is the key focus for now,' said Stanley Fernandes, vice-president, distribution, South Asia, BBC Studios. 'In particular, we know that Tata Play will give us exposure to a new set of young audience primarily due to the digital business model. We are looking forward to seeing growth in this space,' he said. While he did not share the expected boost in revenue and subscribers for BBC Player in the country following the new partnership, he cited that BBC Player's number of active subscribers had quadrupled in the first three months after its launch on Amazon Prime Video in July 2023. He anticipates similar growth from the Tata Play Binge partnership. BBC Studios had earlier stated its aim to double business and profitability by 2028, and Fernandes added that the Indian market forms a key part of this goal. In 2024, BBC Studios generated £1.8 billion in revenue globally. In the Southeast Asian region, he noted that India remains a 'predominantly priority market' for the company. 'BBC Studios is committed to growing our business in India and bringing our wealth of content to audiences across the country. Moving forward, our investment in this area lies in our partnership with Banijay [Asia], and we are excited to see the fantastic British formats we can bring to life for Indian audiences in the future,' said Fernandes. This follows BBC Studios' partnership with Banijay Asia earlier in 2025 to continue its production business in the country. As of now, the company has no plans to partner with any other production house or form a new joint venture in the near future. With the prominence of live entertainment growing in India, Fernandes explained that although BBC Studios has a live entertainment segment, it is not yet a focus for the Indian market.