Viacom18 Might Merge Digital Streaming Platforms Under Super App

Reliance Industries and Viacom-owned entertainment network Viacom18 is reportedly looking to bring its various digital streaming platforms under one super app.

JioCinema, VOOT, VOOT Select and VOOT Kids may form a part of the Viacom18 super app, ET reported.

For now, Reliance has brought all the sports IPs it owns to JioCinema, starting with the FIFA World Cup 2022. The app is providing free live streaming for the world cup.

It is not clear whether JioCinema would also host the Indian Premier League (IPL); the FIFA World Cup broadcast is being touted as a test run before the IPL season next year. First introduced in 2016, JioCinema was merged into Viacom18 by Reliance Industries in September 2022.

The aforementioned report added that Viacom18 might look to integrate content from partner apps such as Eros Now and ALTBalaji. The sources cited in the report also noted that the entertainment network might look to acquire small apps to provide more variety on the super app.

To be sure, Viacom18 has two of the most lucrative sports IPs in India, with the FIFA World Cup and IPL. The entertainment network secured the broadcasting rights for the FIFA World Cup last year for around INR 450 Cr.

Viacom18 secured the digital broadcasting rights for the IPL earlier this year for INR 50 Cr per match, placing the total bid amount at INR 20,500 Cr.

Viacom18 is broadcasting the World Cup on television through its sports channel Sports18. However, the digital broadcast is taking place on JioCinema, even though many expected the digital broadcast to take place on VOOT, which also houses various sports IPs.

The shift towards JioCinema has paid off. According to data.ai (known earlier as App Annie), JioCinema was the second most downloaded app over the last 30 days, as the number of daily downloads soared 30X since the start of the World Cup.

Interestingly, JioCinema was made available to download by non-Jio users with the FIFA broadcast. Further, FIFA World Cup is available for free on the app, which skyrocketed the download figures. The move would also have earned JioCinema a fair few long-term users.

Apart from an initial hiccup, JioCinema’s World Cup broadcast has been good enough, with little lags and stutters, suggesting that Reliance and Viacom18 might just house the IPL on JioCinema as well.

A super app is not a new concept in India; multiple players have already built a super app. Paytm has developed a fintech super app, while Tata has built a retail super app with TataNeu.

Other players such as Adani are in the process of developing a super app. Reliance has already developed one super app – MyJio for Jio users – and is building another super app to take on TataNeu. The Viacom18 super app would make it a third super app venture for the conglomerate.

In the case of entertainment, Amazon Prime Video has tried it by introducing ‘channels’ wherein users can access content from other streaming platforms such as Lionsgate.