JioCinema Deploys INR 2,000 Cr Warchest To Take On Hotstar, Netflix

Taking on giants in the Indian streaming space, Reliance Jio plans to release as many as 100 movies and shows on its OTT platform JioCinema over the next 18-24 months. 

Produced at a cost of well over INR 2,000 Cr, the movies and TV series span various languages and genres, and will directly take on competitors such as Disney+Hotstar, Netflix, SonyLIV and Zee5. 

Of the total, 70 content pieces are movies while the rest are vernacular web series. The President of Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL’s) media business, Jyoti Deshpande told The Economic Times that 49 films will be produced in Hindi while the shows will cater to regional audiences, especially in languages such as Gujarati and Marathi. 

Touting the scale, Deshpande claimed that this kind of investment has so far not been witnessed in the Indian entertainment industry. 

It was not immediately clear whether these offerings will be available for free to viewers. 

The move comes close on the heels of JioCinema’s ongoing tryst with OTT space under which it has offered free streaming of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for its users, taking on Disney+Hotstar head-on, which previously banked on IPL for growth. 

Leveraging Free Mania

Streaming IPL free of cost on JioCinema seems to have worked in favour of the streaming platform as the app saw 5 Cr new downloads during the opening weekend of the tournament. JioCinema logged more than 147 Cr views during the first weekend and attracted 10 Cr new viewers. 

Alongside, the average time spent per viewer per match surged 60% to 57 minutes, compared to last season’s first weekend.

A similar experiment with the FIFA World Cup 2022 also yielded rich dividends for the company as it recorded more than 40 Bn minutes of watch time on its sports channel, Sports18, and JioCinema.

Despite being marred by technical glitches at the outset, JioCinema app saw as many as 32 Mn viewers tune into the FIFA World Cup final on the Reliance-backed streaming platform. 

JioCinema’s renewed focus on the OTT space could pile up issues for other OTT players. With deep pockets and a well-endowed content library, the Reliance-backed OTT streaming platform could present a major challenge to the incumbents such as Netflix, Disney+Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video, Zee5 and SonyLIV. 

Through its partnerships and experience in the broadcast space, JioCinema could also present itself as a major challenger in the content-hungry country with razor-thin margins. Alongside, it could also lock horns with several local and regional platforms such as AHA and HoiChoi to spur its vernacular user base. 

The development came on the same day as Viacom18 also completed the integration of JioCinema onto its fold.

This comes a day after I&B Secretary Apurva Chandra flagged certain issues with the OTT space, saying that a lax self-regulatory approach of the streaming players had led to the production of some undesirable content. 

He also said that a new National Broadcasting Policy was in the offing and hinted that it could bring the OTT space under its ambit. Meanwhile, the Centre has ramped up budgetary allocations for its media and entertainment arms. While the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) was allocated INR 64.75 Cr in Budget 2023, the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute (SRFTI) was allotted INR 95.13 Cr.

The development comes at a time when the space, especially the vernacular content, is witnessing healthy growth. As per a report, Indians spent 80% of their time on media and entertainment apps with the industry projected to touch 70 Bn by 2030.