India bans streaming apps you’ve by no means heard of — however hundreds of thousands watch through NewsFlicks

India has ordered the blocking off of 25 streaming services and products — many with hundreds of thousands of audience or even paying subscribers — for allegedly selling “obscene” content material, in one of the vital South Asian country’s greatest virtual crackdowns but. The order impacts lesser-known, however wildly in style services and products like Ullu and ALTT that cater to the rustic’s mass-market urge for food for grownup and edgy leisure.

This week, the Ministry of Data and Broadcasting issued directives to dam get right of entry to to internet sites and apps connected to twenty-five streaming services and products, bringing up provisions of the Data Generation Act of 2000 and the IT Regulations of 2021, TechCrunch realized.

The order got here months after the Nationwide Fee for Coverage of Kid Rights and a Parliamentary Status Committee on Data Generation raised considerations about mature content material being streamed on those platforms with out good enough safeguards.

The Indian executive contacted web carrier suppliers and app retail outlets, together with Google Play and the Apple App Retailer previous this week to limit those streaming services and products, a supply aware about the topic advised TechCrunch.

A few of these services and products, particularly the key ones with hundreds of thousands of subscribers, remained reside on the time of submitting this text.

Google and Apple didn’t reply to requests for remark. The ideas and broadcasting minister additionally didn’t reply to an e-mail despatched Friday.

Of the 25 streaming services and products, 10 introduced in-app purchases via their apps on Google Play and the App Retailer, producing a cumulative $5.7 million since release with just about 105 million downloads, according to the Appfigures knowledge solely shared with TechCrunch. The extensive hole between in-app purchases and downloads is essentially because of their low subscription prices — considerably less than Netflix and different world platforms in India.

Particularly, a few of these streaming services and products have been both by no means indexed on conventional app retail outlets or have been got rid of previous, and as an alternative introduced their apps as direct APK downloads. As of newsletter, a few of these APK information have been nonetheless out there via their internet sites or third-party platforms.

Previous this month, Indian manufacturing corporate Balaji Telefilms, the mum or dad of ALTT, disclosed that its streaming app generated ₹202.6 million ($2.3 million) in income through including 1.06 million subscribers in 2025. ALTT’s content material used to be watched for greater than 5.8 million hours, garnering 160 million annual perspectives, the corporate stated.

ALTT’s app used to be now not to be had for obtain via Google Play and the App Retailer in India, and its web page used to be inaccessible on maximum Indian ISPs on the time of submitting this text.

Balaji Telefilms didn’t reply to a request for remark at the ban.

Ullu, some other slightly outstanding streaming carrier named through the Indian executive, remained to be had by the use of its app at the Indian Play Retailer, and its web page used to be out there as smartly. The carrier’s iOS app, on the other hand, used to be now not to be had for obtain from the Indian App Retailer.

Ullu Virtual, the mum or dad corporate of Ullu, reported a web benefit of ₹212.3 million ($2.5 million) for the monetary 12 months 2024, according to its regulatory submitting reviewed through TechCrunch. The corporate posted a income of ₹931.4 million ($11 million) and declared a web value of ₹2.08 billion ($24 million).

Ullu Virtual didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Along hundreds of thousands of bucks in subscription income, those streaming services and products have been additionally attracting hundreds of thousands of world visits to their internet sites.

Ullu noticed just about 10% year-over-year expansion in international visitors, achieving 1.9 million visits in June, whilst ALTT recorded over 130% expansion to 776,400, according to SimilarWeb.

In India, Ullu recorded 18.9% year-over-year expansion, achieving 1.8 million visits, whilst ALTT noticed a 157.8% build up to 696,200 visits, SimilarWeb knowledge presentations.

Importantly, this isn’t the primary time the streaming industry has noticed a crackdown in India. World platforms, together with Amazon Top Video and Netflix steadily face cases of censorship through the Indian executive.

Alternatively, even stricter movements are noticed in circumstances of obscenity regardless of a loss of readability on rules, as staring at specific content material that includes totally consensual interactions between grownup actors in a non-public area isn’t a criminal offense.

In 2023, the then Indian knowledge broadcasting minister warned streaming platforms to not serve abusive and obscene content material. New Delhi has additionally blocked hundreds of internet sites streaming pornographic content material. On a plea to keep an eye on sexually specific content material in April this 12 months, India’s Very best Courtroom additionally issued notices to streaming platforms and the Indian executive.

That stated, curtailing obscene content material stays a problem even for the Indian executive. Smaller streaming services and products — like the ones focused on this crackdown — steadily reappear underneath new names, apps, and domain names. It’s similarly tricky for intermediaries like Google, Apple, and web suppliers to totally block get right of entry to, as those platforms steadily unfold via selection channels and use social media platforms like Instagram and YouTube to draw audience.