Amazon MX Player Enters Reel-Race With ‘MX Fatafat’

In an age when user-generated content such as social media reels and YouTube videos are determining the public narratives and opinions, the competition for an advertisement-based video streaming platform is vast. In a clear attempt to jump in the race, Amazon MX Player is now offering MX Fatafat (’Fatafat’ is the Hindi word for quick). These are mini web-series with two-minute-long episodes. Amazon MX Player head Karan Bedi, head of content at Amazon MX Player Amogh Dusad, director of Amazon MX Player Aruna Daryanani, and Amazon Ads India head Girish Prabhu talk about how they view the competition from social media and share details on the content plan.

MX Fatafat – Amazon MX Player’s answer to social media?

Asked if they view social media and YouTube as competition, Daryanani says, “Not really, because those are primarily in the user-generated spaces, and we are in the curated content space. There is space for everyone. I think what everyone is competing for is the timeshare. It is not about the businesses or formats as much as it is about the timeshare that we are actually competing for. Our biggest challenge is how to create engaging content that drives the customer’s loyalty to an extent that they feel encouraged to return time and again.”

Dusad describes MX Fatafat as “micro dramas in vertical format” and calls it bite-sized content. He adds, “I understand that the access barriers have dropped with social media. I think the same customer would watch short reels and long and engaging content at different points of time. I do the same. It is the same customer operating in different moods and time frames. I don’t think there’s a social media user who’s not consuming long form content. It is just a different time. The real challenge continues to be about drawing more attention towards our content. I would not call social media out as a big distraction. It has always been there. Before social media, we had to hold consumers attention away from something else. It is about the time share you want.”

Responding to the AVOD versus social media reels debate, Amazon Ads India head Girish Prabhu admits that the customers may watch various things but adds that it is not always one versus the other. “It is a combination of everything. Unlike few years ago, we do not have the cricket or football seasons or months anymore. The consumption patterns have changed and now sports, cricket or football, is always on. It’s not. People watch every format, including long and short.” He adds that consumption patterns have changed and now all kinds of content are being consumed.

“When we started Mini TV, we thought it was for young adults, the 18 to 24 age bracket. That was the opportunity for us. And we saw good success in bringing that content. Now, with MX Player onboard, Amazon MX Player has the opportunity to extend that audience age bracket to even 40 plus. The age range for our audience is now from 18 to 40 plus. That makes us relevant for everybody out there.”

Amazon MX Player head Karan Bedi agrees that the real challenge remains to keep the audience hooked onto your content, irrespective of the time needed. He adds that the real shift is from TV to digital platforms.

Amazon MX Player 2025 content plan

Amazon MX Player recently announced the 2025 content slate and it packed some interesting shows and films. From popular shows making comebacks for new seasons to novel ideas turned into shows, the slate offers quite a variety and boasts of confidence. Both Amazon (MiniTV) and MX (MX Player) have renewed their star-performers like Aashram, Who’s Your Gynac?, Hunter, Campus Beats and Gutar Gu.

They have also announced interesting new content like Made In India A Titan Story and Bhay – The Gaurav Tiwari Story. While the first one is a series on Indian brands and names, the latter is a series on the supernatural. The first one in the Made In India series is based on Vinay Kamath’s book Titan, Inside India’s Most Successful Consumer Brand and is set to talk about the story of the company and how it became world’s fifth largest watch-maker.

The titles announced with the 2025 slate include Hunter Season 2 – Tootega Nahin Todega, Hip Hop India Season 2, Ek Badnaam Aashram Season 3, Bhay – The Gaurav Tiwari Story, Jamnapaar Season 2, Mitti – Ek Nayi Pehchaan, First Copy, Petty Cash, Rise and Fall, Made in India – A Titan Story, Half CA Season 2, Who’s Your Gynac Season 2, Lafangey – Sapne, Dosti, Duniya, and Campus Beats Season 5, among many others.

Amazon MX Player’s international bid: MX Vdesi

Dusad insists that international program has historically performed well for both MX Player and Amazon Mini TV. “On Amazon MX player, we pick up best of the best from across the world and program them in local languages here. We’ve branded it as MX Vdesi. We shall have one new show every week picked from Mandarin, Korean, Turkish, and Spanish. We continue to explore more directories of content.”

He adds, “This journey actually took us by surprise. We knew Korean content has been working well in India. The learning for me is that the strongest consumer-base of that content is the upper socio-economic female audience. That is also a very highly engaged audience because Korean shows are almost 16 to 18 hours long. Each season consisting of around 16 episodes. Even after serving one new show every week to these customers, there seems to be a voracious appetite for more.”

Dusad reveals that several big Hollywood franchises and blockbusters such as Spider-Man, Jumanji, and Step Up have been localized in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu languages for the platform. “That, along with the premium Prime Video lineup of movies, movies like Gehraaiyaan, Pushpa, Jai Bheem, Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, BellBottom, Runway 34 are all available to Amazon MX Player customers for free now. I think the way we are looking at this 250-million user base on the service is to ensure that their interest levels are met with the content being served.”

(The conversations have been edited and condensed for clarity.)