Should you subscribe to the EPIC ON App?

EPIC ON is an India-based video streaming platform, owned and operated by IN10 Media. It was launched in India in 2017. It offers movies, TV Shows, short films, documentaries across multiple genres like mythology, food, sports, history etc. It also offers five live TV channels.

The app also includes audio content, e-books and games. This review mainly focuses on the EPIC ON video OTT platform.

Available on: EPIC ON is available on multiple platforms, as shown below.

Download and onboarding experience: The size of the Android app is 41 MB and the download and onboarding experience was smooth. Login is not needed to view the free content (with ads) on the app. Users need to subscribe to EPIC ON to get access to premium content. Sign-up is required to add content to the watchlist, change the content language and to subscribe to EPIC ON premium.

Subscription Plan:

The subscription plan and the benefits offered with the EPIC ON Premium subscription include the following:

20% cashback can be obtained by subscribing to the quarterly/half-yearly/annual subscription plan.

What to expect:

With respect to video, all the content on the app is available in the ‘Watch’ tab, with search, Live TV, Coming Soon and Reward Store sections provided at the bottom of the screen.

The popular moviesand shows that would qualify as a big draw for many include Tyohaar Ki Thali,, Devlok with Devdutt Pattnaik, Gandhi, Saaransh, Paar, Raja Rasoi aur Anya Kahaniyaan, Dharmakshetra, Stories by Rabindranath Tagore and Ekant. Documentaries on Indian wars, wildlife etc. are available too.

A ‘Kids’ mode with content suitable for kids is also available. Among the live TV channels, Ishara, Epic TV and Gubbare channels need a premium subscription while Filmachi and Showbox can be viewed for free.

The ‘Coming Soon’ section shows trailers of upcoming content on the platform with the date of release and a short description of the movie/show, along with the option to add it to the calendar.

Reward points (Epicoins) are provided for subscribing to the app and for engaging with the app which can be redeemed for coupons that can be used on other websites like Asian Paints, MediBuddy etc.

Design and experience:

The design is simple and neat with lots of widgets like New Releases, Popular in TV shows, Trending Short films etc. in the ‘Watch’ tab, which makes it easy for the user to choose content. The maroon background colour makes the content stand out and the white text is clearly readable on all screens. The ‘View All’ option for the widgets provides more options to the user.

The option to view content like TV Shows, Documentaries, Kids, Shorts and Movies is provided in the main menu.

I watched the documentary ‘The 1965 Indo – Pakistan War’ as part of this review.

The show detail page has the following information:

• Genre
• Runtime
• Content Rating
• Language
• Add to watchlist
• Download option(for premium subscribers only)
• Share
• Watch Trailer
• Brief description of the show
• Episodes list (for shows)
• Suggestions on videos to watch, books to read and podcasts to listen to
• Cast names (for movies)

The standard features available on the video player include:

• Forward/rewind by 10 sec
• Enable/disable subtitles
• Change video quality
• When a movie is playing, screenshots cannot be taken.

Search:

1. Recently searched titles, trending titles, shortcuts to different types of content like Movies, Live TV, Shorts etc. and shortcuts to content of different genres are shown.
2. Voice-based search is available.
3. Search results are shown in multiple sections - Movies, TV Shows, Listen, Read and Play

Pros & Cons:

Pros

1. Wide variety of content across multiple genres like Mythology, History, Travel etc.
2. Five Live TV channels
3. The app’s homepage is classified into widgets for various themes, making it easier for the user to choose content.
4. The subscription fee is low as compared to other OTTs in the market, and coupons that can be used on other websites are provided as well.
5. Option to download content and watch the same offline (only for premium subscribers).
6. Kids mode, with relevant content for kids
7. Option to cast to smart TV is available.
8. Option to earn Epicoins by subscribing to EPIC ON premium and by watching content on the platform and redeeming them for coupons on other websites.

Cons

1. Details of the cast for shows/movies are not given.
2. No critic/user ratings to help users choose a title.
3. App does not support split-screen mode

Why should one subscribe?

1. The subscription cost is Rs 59 per month which is less compared to a lot of other OTTs in the market, and coupons which can be used on other websites are also provided.
2. The option to watch Live TV, across five channels.
3. Access to premium content on the platform and an ad-free viewing experience.
4. Content in genres like Mythology and History.

Rating:

Based on the user experience, the pros and cons, the rating given to EPIC ON is 7 on 10.

Having an EPIC ON subscription is recommended for anyone who likes to watch content on Mythology, History, Food and Travel.