Business Research Methods

PGDM 2015-17
Trimester - III

Research Proposal
On
NETFLIX in India A game changer or a pipe dream

Submitted by:
Group Number: 7
Section: C

Team Members:
Foram Thakkar
Gopal P
Phalguni Bhardwaj
Prachi Sharan

Course Facilitator:
Prof. R.K. Jena

Rohit Raj
Shreyans Jain

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A written research proposal

Title
Will Netflix India be a game changer or will remain a pipe dream?
Background
Founded in August 1997, Netflix is an American multinational that
provides on-demand internet streaming media. Primarily based in
California, United States, Netflix operates in a total of 41 countries
around the world and has 74 million customers world-wide and its
market penetration is close to 35%.
Netflix became successful owing to factors like: broader selection of
content from the catalogue, access from multiple devices like TV,
personal computer and mobile phone, bandwidth availability in the host
countries, eliminating the need to visit a DVD store, etc.
On January 6, 2016 Netflix announced its entry into Indian market.
Netflix India has pricing similar to its primary US market and users will
be able to pay as low as Rs.500 to watch shows and movies on a single
screen at one time. For Rs.650, they will get access to two simultaneous
screens and four for Rs.800. The first month is free for all users and they
can pay using credit card only at the moment.
Now the big question remains whether Netflix will succeed in India with
the odds being:
In a country with a population of 1.25 billion, internet users are
only 400 million
Internet bandwidth is relatively low and unsatisfactory

 India is a market of the middle class and people may not pay
additional to an on demand service when they can watch
everything on their DTH services.
Face competition from DTH operators who offer similar services
at lower price points
Online piracy is rampant in India and huge amount of
entertainment content is available on the internet for free
Due to these reasons we feel that Netflix may not succeed in India

Scope of the Study

Carry out primary research among the household and young adult
market. Upper middle class and urban young consumers would be our
target segment as these would the target consumers for Netflix India as
well. Later the research would also extend towards understanding the
preferences of consumers from non-metro cities. This would help us
gauge the consumer propensity towards such a service.
Research Questions
1. What is the current scenario of online streaming available in India?
2. What is the current scenario of DTH services available in India?
3. What is the propensity towards consuming on demand streaming service in
India?
Research objectives
1. To study the scenario of online streaming in India.
2. To study the difference between the service offered by DTH and

Netflix
3. To draw conclusions about the future usage of Netflix in India.
Methodology
1. Philosophy : Pragmatism
2. Approach : Deductive and Applied
3. Research Strategy : Multi-Way Strategy
4. Research Design : Cross-sectional and Experimental
5. Types of Research : Analytical
6. A Survey Instrument (questionnaire) will be developed with
questions based on consumer preferences for on demand
entertainment services. Subsequently questions about the different
services and their priority would be evaluated. This will lead to a
hypothesis (e.g. Netflix will not succeed in India). The questions in
the questionnaire will seek to test these hypotheses. The
questionnaire will be distributed to a sample (to be determined) of
households and young adults across metro and non-metro cities.
7. Descriptive Statistics and Inferential Statistics will use the SPSS
software. Statistical tests will be run to ensure that results reflect
the actual consumer tastes and preferences for such a new kind of
service.

Time Scale
Date --- Jan 26 : review of literature
Date --- Jan 30
: draft literature
review

Date --- Feb 3

: access to the organizations for collection of
primary data using questionnaire
Date --- Feb 7 : final collection of questionnaires and analysis of
data
Date --- Feb 11
: completion of first draft of project report
Date --- Feb 15 : final writing of project report
Resources
We have access to computer hardware and software. Research will be
carried out taking public opinion of people available within IMT
Nagpur, households in other metros and tier-2 cities and also
conclusions will be drawn according to data available on the net.
References
http://techpp.com/2016/01/07/netflix-india-challenges/
http://indianexpress.com/article/technology/tech-newstechnology/netflix-in-india-here-is-how-it-will-work/
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/9Vipq3XmcfQuhJRMBleuwL/IndiasInternet-users-set-to-increase-49-to-402-million-by.html