The line-up is in addition to the platform's foray into live sports with the acquisition of New Zealand Cricket rights

Video streaming platform Amazon Prime Video has lined up a slate of 30 original shows for the Indian market. The original web shows are in various stages of development. The aggressive content line-up is in addition to the platform's foray into live sports with the acquisition of New Zealand Cricket rights. "Prime Video is growing rapidly in India and given the insatiable appetite of Indian consumers for clutter-breaking content, it is not surprising that India boasts of one of the largest Amazon Originals production slates amongst our many international geographies. Prime Video in India has approximately 30 Amazon Original Series in various stages of development – the slate has been curated especially for Indian audiences," an Amazon Prime Video spokesperson said. Some of the upcoming titles include Mumbai Diaries – 26/11, fresh unscripted formats including sports-docuseries Sons of Soil – Jaipur Pink Panthers, which will debut on 4th December as well as returning season of The Family Man. "Recently, we announced our foray into LIVE sports acquiring exclusive streaming rights for New Zealand Cricket in India, with live streaming starting from late 2021. We continue to evaluate newer, exciting content and unique formats for our customers," the spokesperson added. In 2020, the platform has launched 16 direct-to-digital movies and seven Indian Amazon Originals to date which includes five direct-to-service releases and 1 Amazon Original coming up by the end of the year. "We are delighted by customer response to both, the films as well as the series, and all of these launches have led to a strong growth in new customers joining Prime as well as an overall increase in viewership of Prime Video in India," the spokesperson noted. Some of the direct-to-digital films premiered by the platform include Shoojit Sircar’s Amitabh Bachchan and Ayushmann Khurrana starrer Gulabo Sitabo, Anu Menon’s Shakuntala Devi with Vidya Balan (Dirty Picture, Kahaani) in lead, legal drama Ponmagal Vandhal starring Jyotika (Chandramukhi) in addition to Keerthy Suresh (Mahanathie) starrer Penguin (Tamil and Telugu), Sufiyum Sujatayum (Malayalam), Law (Kannada) and French Biryani (Kannada). "Our big Bollywood direct-to-digital films launched on our service as well as Amazon Original Series Mirzapur, the year’s most popular original series, has been watched by customers globally across 180 countries and territories within weeks of release," the spokesperson stated. According to the spokesperson, the direct-to-digital films have been watched by customers in over 4000+ cities and towns in the first few weeks of their release on Prime Video. "Our direct-to-digital local language movies (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada) saw over 50% of viewership from outside the home state. We are delighted that Prime Video has been able to increase the distribution and viewership of these films to a wide audience base in India and internationally." In October ahead of the Navratri and Diwali celebrations, the platform had announced a brand new slate of nine movies that would premiere directly on the streaming service. "These are not just Bollywood movies but Indian cinema spanning five Indian languages. While Coolie No. 1 and Durgamati will be available to stream soon, movies such as Chhalaang, Bheemasena Nalamaharaja (Kannada), Middle Class Melodies (Telugu), Maara (Tamil), and Manne Number 13 (Kannada), Halal Love Story (Malayalam) and Soorarai Pottru (Tamil) have already amassed immense love on our platform. Additionally, we also launched the highly-anticipated Mirzapur 2 along with the World Premiere of Nishabdam (Tamil/Telugu)," the spokesperson averred.