The much awaited offline mode for Netflix may be on the way. However, the offline feature will not be available in the US, which is the company’s biggest market. Speculations about the feature started when Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos, told CNBC that an offline mode may appeal to markets that don’t have access to high Internet speeds. Sarandos was speaking to CNBC ahead of the premiere of Netflix’s new show, The Crown.
So far, Netflix has refrained from offline streaming. However, it expanded to a bunch of countries in 2016, including India. In many of these markets, especially India, connectivity to the Internet isn’t as widespread as the US. Moreover, the Internet is still considered a luxury in the country and many users are reluctant to stream content owing to data usage concerns.
Offline streaming could give Netflix a considerable hold on the Indian market. While the company hasn’t disclosed numbers on its Indian user-base, it has had to deal with competition from Hotstar, Spuul and multiple other streaming platforms that are available in the country.
Further, while offline streaming will indeed be a welcome change, Netflix also needs to improve its collection of regional content. Currently, the platform is widely viewed as a good source of western videos, but its Indian content base is not the strongest.