In a landmark move that reshapes India‘s streaming landscape, JioStar has unveiled JioHotstar, merging JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. The unified platform, launching Feb. 14, boasts nearly 300,000 hours of content and claims a user base exceeding 500 million.
The move follows the events of 2024 when the Indian entertainment landscape witnessed a seismic shift with Reliance Industries and Disney completing their long-awaited media merger, giving birth to JioStar – a media powerhouse valued at $8.5 billion. The merger combined Disney’s Star India with Reliance’s Viacom18 and their respective platforms.
With the company structured under three distinct leaderships – Kiran Mani (CEO – Digital), Kevin Vaz (CEO – Broadcast Entertainment), and Sanjog Gupta (CEO – Sports) – JioStar operates with a shared vision of universalizing entertainment access. Mani, a seasoned digital strategist who previously led Google’s Android and Play Ecosystems in Asia-Pacific and Japan, is spearheading the company’s digital operations. Vaz, a veteran entertainment executive instrumental in launching over 50 channels at Disney Star, oversees JioStar’s extensive television and regional content business. Gupta, with two decades in sports broadcasting, drives JioStar’s sports strategy, having played a crucial role in expanding multi-language sports coverage and interactive experiences.
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With three co-CEOs at the helm, JioStar is an anomaly in the media world. How do they navigate decision-making? “I think the real question you’re asking is: what happens when three of us disagree on something?” Mani quips. “India is a unique market with over a billion screens to serve. As a company, it’s actually a conglomeration of many, many businesses and many, many media and entertainment opportunities.” Mani adds that a one-person leadership becomes hierarchical and doesn’t tap into the core expertise that the respective CEOs have.
Vaz, who helms JioStar’s massive TV and regional content business, adds, “It’s a big opportunity for us in today’s date that we are saying, instead of looking at linear TV or looking at digital separate. How would you go to an advertiser and offer him solutions, which are screen agnostic, but more to solve for his brand and his reach vis a vis talking to only one part of the business.”
Gupta, whose domain includes IPL and international sports rights, highlights the collaborative approach. “If you think about the multiple business units, or the businesses that the three of us manage, they’re at very different stages of their journey in terms of evolution, they also deal with unique realities, both externally and internally, which require a deep level of expertise to be managed. So while optically, it’s you’re looking at three of us sitting here. It’s actually three highly specialized organizations that are pulling in the same direction.“
Gupta provides a recent example, the live stream of the Coldplay concert from the Narendra Modi Stadium, which he describes as a “watershed moment” for India. “Kiran and I worked together to develop what we believed was the ideal experience for consumers of that concert on the platform, and Kevin and I work together very closely to unlock the monetization potential of that that concert, because Kevin’s world has an expertise in monetizing entertainment linked eyeballs, and Kiran’s world has the expertise in delivering experiences at scale which are deeply immersive and that’s where the three of us actually came together to deliver one live event itself, and that’s pretty much how we are engaging on a daily basis to run this aggregate of businesses or aggregate of experiences that we want to offer consumers.”
The new service will offer content across 19 languages and provide free access to shows, movies and live sports, with premium subscription plans starting at INR149 ($1.70).
“At the core of JioHotstar is a powerful vision—to make premium entertainment truly accessible to all Indians,” says Mani. “Our promise of Infinite Possibilities ensures that entertainment is no longer a privilege, but a shared experience for all.”
JioHotstar’s content strategy spans multiple demographics, with Vaz detailing an ambitious slate. The platform plans to release 2-3 original series monthly, alongside one marquee content drop per month and 1-2 movies per quarter.
“Between Disney and Nickelodeon, we’ve got one of the best offerings for kids,” says Vaz. The service features content from major Hollywood studios including Disney, NBCUniversal Peacock, Warner Bros. Discovery HBO, and Paramount – a combination rarely found on a single platform globally.
In a significant push for regional content, JioHotstar is planning 40 to 50 originals specifically for South Indian markets. “Till last year, we were doing approximately 500 hours of content in regional languages. We will take that up to 1,100 hours,” Vaz reveals, noting recent successes in cross-market content performance. The platform’s “always on” reality programming strategy includes major franchises like “Bigg Boss” across multiple languages.
The service boasts what executives claim is the world’s largest international content library, complemented by pre-TV access to programming from more than 100 television channels.
The platform’s sports offering demonstrates the power of linguistic customization. “EPL [English Premiere League soccer] in India is watched by higher numbers in Malayalam and Bangla than it is in English,” Gupta notes, highlighting the platform’s success in regional market penetration. The service will continue hosting premium sports properties including ICC events, Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket, the Womens’ Premier League (WPL), Premier League soccer, and Wimbledon.
The service is leveraging advanced technology for personalized viewing experiences. Mani reveals that during IPL streams, the platform manages 1,600 different consumer cohorts to optimize streaming quality based on factors like device type and data plans.
JioHotstar is also venturing into short-form content with “Sparks,” a new initiative launching Feb. 14 that will feature India’s top digital creators. The platform plans to give creators more creative freedom and IP-based opportunities across multiple episodes and shows.
Looking ahead, the service aims to explore commerce opportunities, focusing on driving retail traffic rather than traditional performance metrics. “We are looking at it from a very different performance metric,” says Mani, emphasizing value creation over conventional attribution models.
The platform is also investing in AI and machine learning, particularly for content production and personalization, though Mani stresses a measured approach: “Do artificial intelligence only where your intelligence is already strong.”
With this consolidation, JioHotstar is positioning itself as a one-stop destination for Indian audiences, combining technological innovation with extensive content offerings across entertainment, sports, and original programming. The platform’s strategy of free access with premium upgrade options signals an aggressive push for market expansion in India’s competitive streaming landscape.
As Mani says, “We are ready to light up a billion screens now in India.”