Disney+ Hotstar content could merge with JioCinema to create India’s largest streaming service after RIL-Disney deal

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is reportedly considering a major overhaul of its streaming services. Following its proposed merger with Star India’s Disney+ Hotstar, RIL may focus on just one streaming platform: JioCinema, according to a report in the Economic Times. Although Disney+ Hotstar currently has many more users, RIL reportedly plans to combine its content with JioCinema to create a single, stronger platform.

Disney+ Hotstar, owned by Walt Disney’s Star India, is currently one of India’s leading streaming services with over 500 million downloads on Google Play Store. JioCinema, on the other hand, owned by Viacom18 (controlled by RIL), has over 100 million downloads. Despite the difference, RIL believes that running two separate platforms would be more expensive and less efficient. By merging, RIL could build a more powerful streaming service that could compete with major players like YouTube, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
This move comes after RIL and Walt Disney signed deals to merge Star India and Viacom18 earlier this year, creating a media giant valued at around $8.5 billion. This new company would have 100 television channels and two streaming services, but RIL seems to prefer having just one.

The merger is yet to be approved by regulators such as the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). To address concerns about RIL becoming too dominant in the market, RIL is also willing to shut down some television channels in Hindi and regional markets.

RIL’s annual report for 2023 showed that JioCinema had an average of 225 million users every month. Meanwhile, Disney+ Hotstar had 333 million active users in the last quarter of 2023. However, Disney+ Hotstar has lost some of its paying subscribers, falling from 61 million at its peak to 35.5 million in June. This decline was partly due to the loss of rights to popular content such as the Indian Premier League (IPL) and HBO shows.

Despite this, JioCinema has grown rapidly, especially after it acquired the digital rights to the IPL, which resulted in record-breaking viewership on the platform. RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani highlighted this success, saying that the IPL on JioCinema has demonstrated the platform’s ability to attract large viewership quickly.

If Disney+ Hotstar’s content is combined with JioCinema, the latter could become India’s largest streaming service, offering over 125,000 hours of entertainment, sports and Hollywood content. The new platform would also include major sports rights such as the IPL and content from major studios such as Disney, HBO, NBCUniversal and Paramount Global.

RIL has taken similar steps in the past, such as merging other platforms like Voot with JioCinema. Recently, JioCinema was transferred to Viacom18 following a court-approved deal that also included an investment of ₹15,145 crore by RIL and Bodhi Tree Systems in Viacom18.