Disney+ Hotstar Beats JioCinema In Its Own Game As 3.5 Cr Viewers Tune In To Watch India-Pak Match

Disney+ Hotstar has created a world record of sorts after the live telecast of the India-Pakistan World Cup match on Saturday (October 14) helped the streaming giant notch up 3.5 Cr concurrent viewers. 

Disney+ Hotstar broke the previous record held by competitor JioCinema, which reported 3.2 Cr concurrent viewers during the IPL 2023 finale in May 2023.

The numbers are much in line with similar previous records set by Disney+ Hotstar for streaming of a cricket match. The high-voltage India-Pakistan match appears to have brought users in droves as the company looks to mount an effective defence against JioCInema. 

The Reliance-backed streaming platform has been poaching media rights of all key cricket tournaments from Disney+ Hotstar, be it IPL or BCCI, setting the stage for a full-scale streaming war with the deep-pocketed Reliance. 

JioCinema has also signed deals with HBO and NBCUniversal to bring premium English shows on its platform, much to the chagrin of Disney+ Hotstar. However, the user surge recorded during the India-Pakistan match, which was broadcast for free, is expected to give more ammo to Star India executives as they now pitch to sell their India operations. 

Meanwhile, top Disney India executives are reportedly set to fly to the US headquarters later next month to finalise plans to sell India operations. 

The positive numbers during the match come as a major respite for Disney+ Hotstar, which has been struggling to retain its paid users. Banking on the love of cricket in India, the company saw its paid subscriber growth scale to a record 61.3 Mn at the end of the quarter ended September 2022. 

As JioCinema began streaming the IPL for free, Disney+ Hotstar saw subscribers leave in droves. The latter’s paid user base dwindled to 40.4 Mn at the beginning of July 2023. The lack of high-quality English content and variety also played spoilsport for the company. 

Barring the media rights for ICC’s global tournaments in India, Disney+ Hotstar just has Marvel films and TV shows in its kitty, which may not prove to be an attractive proposition for users. As the streaming wars continue, it remains to be seen what price tag will the impressive numbers of the India-Pakistan match help Star India buy. 

For now, the vanity metrics have given the streaming giant a sigh of relief as parent Disney streamlines plans to offload its Indian business. Meanwhile, the Indian streaming space continues to be an attractive proposition and is projected to grow to a market size of $12.5 Bn by 2030.