Tencent and Paytm to Invest Over $100 Million in Indian Streaming Service MX Player

Tencent, the company behind WeChat, China’s biggest social network, and India’s leading mobile payment service company Paytm are planning to invest over $100 million in Indian video and audio streaming platform MX Player. According to people familiar with the matter, the investment negotiations between the companies have already entered their final stage, but several details have not yet been settled. The news are indicative of Tencent’s efforts to increase its international presence and secure a piece of India’s rapidly swelling streaming market.

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Last month, Tencent launched its first overseas video streaming service in Thailand to seek international business growth. Investing in MX Player will now allow Tencent to gain entry to the more lucrative Indian video and audio streaming market. By some estimates, the Indian content streaming market will reach over $1.7 billion by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 22 percent.

MX Player is a streaming platform and a offline video player owned by the Times Group, India’s largest media conglomerate, who acquired the company for $144 million in 2018. The platform has roughly 70 million daily active users and 650 million downloads worldwide, with a paid subscriber base of more than 350 million.