India’s OTT Battle Turns Into JioHotstar Or Nothing

‘One ring to rule them all, and in the darkness, bind them’ — the situation perhaps not as morbid as that line from The Lord of the Rings, but the launch of JioHotstar this week marks another pivotal moment for the Indian streaming industry, with Reliance now holding the keys to the kingdom.

Incidentally, the previous such moment also involved Hotstar as the streaming platform moved homes to Disney+ five years ago right in the middle of the Covid pandemic. Since then Disney+ Hotstar not only lost rights to key live sports properties but also marquee international shows, which put it on the backfoot.

Many of those shows and live sports events moved to JioCinema, so in a roundabout way, Hotstar is back to what it was before the pandemic. In fact, we can argue that no OTT or streaming platform in the world has the dominant slate that the all-new JioHotstar now boasts of  — not just movies and global hits, but also live cricket matches watched by hundreds of millions of Indians.

But before we look at the fate of the streaming industry, a short detour into the top stories from our newsroom this week:

• The EV Funding Question: A slowdown in sales across categories, cautious investment climate, and macroeconomic parameters have dampened investor interest in the EV space. What will change this malaise?
• Much Furore Over ‘Latent’: Outrage over Ranveer Allahbadia’s allegedly ‘obscene’ remarks have set India’s social media ecosystem on fire. Did the award-winning influencer cross a line that could have grave implications for the creator economy?
• Shein, Five Years Later: Shein is back in India, but the market has changed in the five year exile for the fast fashion giant. Will Reliance’s backing be enough to dethrone Zudio, NEWME and others that are now ruling the roost?

JioHotstar Goes Large

Putting an end to months of speculation, Disney and Reliance officially announced the signing of binding agreements in late 2024 to create a joint venture, merging Viacom18 with Star India Private Limited.

The combined JioHotstar entity is anticipated to host more than 100 TV channels and two of the country’s most prominent OTT platforms – Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema.

As of now, RIL is set to infuse INR 11,500 Cr into the new platform — an investment that has raised concerns around Reliance gunning for big revenue in the streaming business. Thus far, JioCinema had taken a slower approach to revenue growth, with its subscription plans launching only last year, despite the platform being around since 2022.

If Reliance’s past is any indication, JioHotstar will not go slow on customer acquisition. Armed with the content library that no other platform can boast of, this is Reliance’s new money machine. All indications are that even formerly free content such as the Indian Premier League will now require subscriptions.

According to a Reuters report, viewers will only be able to match a few minutes of an IPL match without a subscription. Post this, users will have to subscribe to plans starting at INR 149.

In other words, it’s the end of the freebie era that defined Reliance’s streaming service till now. In many ways, this is JioHotstar flexing its content muscles and unlocking a huge revenue stream for the Mukesh Ambani-led company. It’s also worth noting that Jio has played it smartly by integrating JioCinema into the larger Disney+Hotstar app rather than the other way around.

According to RIL’s annual report, JioCinema reached 225 Mn monthly active users in FY24, while Disney+ Hotstar led the way with 333 Mn monthly active users as of December 2023.

Disney+ Hotstar reported 35.5 Mn paid subscribers as of June 2024, despite a decline in its customer base, whereas JioCinema, as of September, became the fastest-growing subscription-based OTT platform, surpassing 16 Mn paid subscribers. But with subscriptions now coming to the fore, we expect this base to skyrocket in the next couple of months, especially with the IPL around the corner.

The OTT Monopoly

The other big concern around the JioHotstar combine is the potential monopoly on international content and live sports streaming in India. While Netflix and Amazon Prime have tried their hands at live sports, neither came close to what Disney+ Hotstar or JioCinema can offer.

In fact, the new merged platform leaves Netflix or Amazon Prime with very little in terms of differentiation in content and a very limited library. For instance, when Disney combined with Hotstar in 2020, Netflix lost access to a whole host of Disney-owned content in India.

This forced Netflix into a corner and compelled the company to spend heavily on its original content slate in India, which we have covered in the past. But this is a cost-intensive strategy.

Instead of going this way, JioCinema chose to acquire rights to marquee content by splurging millions. Now, JioHotstar has the luxury of sitting back and watching the subscription revenue roll in and recover the investment into these sporting rights.

Kiran Mani, a former Google executive with extensive experience in digital business, has been leading JioCinema for about a year, and will helm JioHotstar as its CEO. Additionally, Viacom18 has brought in another former YouTube executive, Ishan Chatterjee, as the chief business officer for the combined platform.

JioHotstar Or Nothing

Before the merger was announced, there was talk about keeping Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema as separate platforms. However, experts believe this wouldn’t have been sustainable, given that the company would have to spend separately on content acquisition and technology. It would have been challenging to generate robust average revenue per user (ARPU) from these two separate platforms, especially if both involved subscription plays.

And going ad-only on one platform would have exposed Reliance to the risk of slow revenue quarters where there is no big streaming property to bank on, such as when there’s no live cricket, for instance.

“Regarding pricing, Reliance has a potential advantage due to its strong last-mile reach. Reliance can tap into its vast Jio network. This distribution capability allows JioHotstar to set competitive pricing, likely at more affordable rates. Unlike competitors that may realise only 30-40% of rack-rate pricing due to revenue sharing with telecom and OEM partners, the direct reach could enable JioHotstar to capture a larger share of revenue, leading to better ARPU and increased subscription revenue,” Taurani said.

Competition with international giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video will be worth watching — will these giants double down on India or look to increase prices as their user base shrinks?

Amazon, after its merger with MX Player, is eyeing low-hanging fruits and low budget productions, while the failed Zee-Sony merger leaves Zee5 and SonyLIV as distant contenders. At the moment, the Indian market looks like a JioHotstar or nothing kind of a situation.

Sunday Roundup: Startup Funding, Deals & More

• Indian startup funding seems to have found new wings in 2025. With $270 Mn raised in the past week, the total funding in the first seven weeks of the year has now crossed $1.6 Bn
• In a major restructuring exercise at fintech major Navi, Sachin Bansal has stepped down as CEO of Navi, but will continue to be the executive chairman of the Navi Group
• Shailesh Lakhani and Abheek Anand, both managing directors at Peak XV Partners, are set to leave the VC giant, which has seen a heavy exodus from the leadership in the past few months
• IPO-bound cloud kitchen unicorn Rebel Foods has forayed into the 15-minute food delivery segment to take on the likes of Zomato and Swiggy with the launch of QuickiES
• Bollywood music labels like T-Series, Saregama, and Sony are reportedly looking to join an ongoing lawsuit against ChatGPT developer OpenAI in the Delhi High Court over alleged copyright violation