Reliance to Keep Disney+ Hotstar as the Sole Streaming Platform After Merger

Reliance Industries is set to retain Disney+ Hotstar as the exclusive streaming platform following the merger of Star India and Viacom18. JioCinema will merge into Disney+ Hotstar, establishing it as the primary streaming service for the newly combined entity, according to sources.

Initially, Reliance considered different strategies for its streaming business, including integrating Disney+ Hotstar with JioCinema and potentially maintaining two separate platforms for sports and entertainment. However, Reliance's leadership decided to keep Disney+ Hotstar due to its advanced technology infrastructure, a source familiar with the discussions said.

Reports indicated that Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which will oversee the merged Star-Viacom18 entity, is focused on consolidating JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar into one comprehensive OTT platform. Disney+ Hotstar, owned by Walt Disney's Star India, boasts over 500 million downloads on the Google Play Store, while JioCinema has around 100 million downloads, under the control of RIL's Viacom18.

In February, RIL and Walt Disney formalized agreements to merge Star and Viacom18, resulting in an $8.5 billion media powerhouse with more than 100 channels and two streaming platforms. According to RIL's annual report, JioCinema attracted an average of 225 million monthly users, whereas Disney+ Hotstar recorded 333 million monthly active users in the fourth quarter of 2023, as per Sensor Tower data.

As of June, Disney+ Hotstar had 35.5 million paid subscribers, a significant decrease from its peak of 61 million when it offered high-demand content like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and HBO series. Previously, Viacom18 merged its various OTT platforms under the Voot brand into JioCinema, consolidating operations from three separate platforms: Voot, Voot Select, and Voot Kids.

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