Discovery launches ‘Discovery Plus’, India’s first aggregated real-life entertainment streaming app

Discovery, India’s leading and most trusted real-life entertainment network, is set to disrupt the OTT landscape in the country with the launch of ‘Discovery Plus’, an exciting new D2C streaming app, to satiate the unmet need of a differentiated product offering premium real-life entertainment. Priced competitively with an introductory offer of INR 299 per annum, the app has been developed and curated specifically for India. In the initial phase, the company will reach out to 25 million strong base of core TV infotainment consumers across Tier I and Tier II towns (defined as those who watch over 3 hours of infotainment every month).

Furthermore, in order to drive engagement, Discovery Plus is launching with one-of-a-kind rewards with India’s leading mobile payments app, Google Pay.

Google Pay users who tune-in to the premiere of Into the Wild with Bear Grylls featuring Rajinikanth on March 23 at 8:00 PM on Discovery can match the audio for the first four minutes of the show or the promos leading up to the show with Google Pay’s ‘On-Air’ feature, and get a reward upto 100% off on Discovery Plus annual subscription price.

The newly launched OTT service will offer thousands of hours of exclusive content across 40+ genres, including Science, Adventure, Food and Lifestyle, in 8 languages including Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali & Marathi.

Discovery Plus will offer Premium subscribers a large selection of never-seen-before Premium Discovery titles, must-watch documentaries, India originals and exclusive acquisitions. Free users of the app will have access to all-time favourites from the Discovery library. Additionally, a unique destination titled ‘Shorts’ will feature hundreds of free short-form videos that will satisfy the new and emerging Indian mobile user looking for infotainment on the go.

The much-anticipated Superstar Rajinikanth’s TV debut show –‘Into The Wild With Bear Grylls’ will be launched first on Discovery Plus at 6:00 am on March 23 much before the television premiere which is at 8:00 pm. Discovery Plus will also exclusive videos including Behind The Scenes for Thalaiva’ s fans.

The content will be curated from the world’s most trusted content brands such as Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, BBC, TLC, Discovery Science, Discovery Turbo, ID, Food Network, HGTV, Cooking Channel, Travel Channel, DIY Network, Motortrend and VICE.

Discovery officials on the launch Speaking on the occasion, Simon Robinson, President APAC & CFO International, Discovery, Inc., said, “Globally, we are observing healthy trends from direct-to-consumer businesses and Discovery Plus, with its India focused strategy, is a valued addition. The launch of Discovery Plus is a significant development for our business in India and reflects our commitment to this critical market.”

“The consumer is spoilt for choice in the scripted content space but doesn’t have a dedicated offering in the unscripted space – a place we intend to fill with the launch of Discovery Plus,” said, Megha Tata, Managing Director – South Asia, Discovery, “Our large global library of 300,000 hours of premium content and expertise in owning passionate communities will give us a huge competitive advantage in the digital domain.”

“In a digital world that’s laden with hours and hours of scripted content, Discovery Plus offers a unique and untapped opportunity for us to build on the trust of the flagship brand and offer content that truly powers people’s passions across verticals as varied as Adventure, Science and Lifestyle to name a few,” said, Issac John, Business Head – Digital (South Asia), Discovery, “Over the next 12 months, the lineup includes premium content across all our key genres such as Into the Wild with Rajnikanth, Expedition Unknown, Coronavirus: The Silent Killer, Food Factory, Mythbusters, Wild Karnataka and Project Runway among many others.”