Streaming services are taking India’s movie and TV industry by storm. People are moving from traditional TV options such as cable and satellite to streaming apps and websites. Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video, the largest OTT platforms globally, have a massive presence in India. Streaming services are popular because they offer better movie and TV libraries, exclusive content, and faster premieres.
If you are a cord-cutter in India, there are plenty of excellent choices beyond Netflix and Prime Video. Regional OTT platforms such as Disney’s Hotstar, SonyLiv, Zee5, Voot, and ALTBalaji are gaining massive traction in the Indian streaming market. While streaming is significantly cheaper than cable or satellite here in India, subscription fees can quickly add up, especially if you subscribe to multiple services.
As a subscriber, you should always be on the lookout for ways to get even more for your monthly fee. In this article, we’ve compiled the best streaming tips to enhance your viewing experience and make sure that you’re getting your money’s worth.
Customize On-Screen Subtitles
Subtitles display conversations between the characters in a movie or TV show in text and appear at the bottom of your screen. Subtitles can enhance your viewing experience in a range of situations. Streaming services allow users to view content with or without subtitles by turning them on or off. But there’s much more you can do with subtitles. For instance, you can change the text’s size and color to customize the appearance of subtitles on your screen.
Use a VPN
Streaming services offer varying film and TV libraries in different countries. For that reason, it’s hard to keep up with your favorite movies and TV shows when traveling as they may not be available for streaming in your host country. Some streaming services are also not available outside India. For instance, you can’t watch Hotstar in Europe. Fortunately, you can download a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to get around these restrictions. For example, a VPN for Hotstar lets you keep up with your favorite Indian content on the move.
Use Parental Controls
If you have kids in your home, you must take steps to ensure that they don’t watch inappropriate content on shared streaming accounts. Netflix and other streaming services feature parental controls that let you keep track of your children’s watching on household accounts, whether they are streaming via smartphone, computer, or TV set. You can use this feature to control what your kids are watching to make sure they don’t watch inappropriate content.
Share Your Account with Friends and Family
Many popular streaming platforms in India, including Hotstar, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and SonyLiv, allow subscribers to share their accounts with loved ones. This feature means that households don’t have to pay subscriptions for multiple Netflix or Hotstar accounts to watch content. However, the number of people you can share your account with is limited. For instance, Prime Video only supports up to six profiles, two adult and four child profiles.
Download for Offline
You need a stable internet connection to watch content on video-on-demand platforms. In most cases, that’s not a problem when you are connected to your home Wi-Fi. However, streaming content on the move can be a problem, you know, expensive data plans and all that. Fortunately, many streaming apps come with a download feature that allows users to save videos on their devices and watch them later offline.
OTT platforms are getting increasingly popular in India. Streaming services, both regional and global, offer vast catalogs of movies, TV shows, and documentaries and are far less expensive than cable and satellite. If you are a subscriber in India, feel free to use the tips above to get the best out of your subscription when cutting the cord.
