16 April— Jio Hotstar, the newly merged over-the-top (OTT) platform formed by the merger of Disney, Hotstar, and Jio Cinema, crossed the 200 million paid subscriber mark on Friday. The main reason for this is the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). This is the largest streaming platform in India.When JioHotstar was launched on February 14, it had 50 million subscribers. This number increased due to IPL on March 22. It is understood that this number crossed 100 crore within a few days.The number of viewers has reached record levels in the last four years. JioHotstar is believed to be the third largest in the world after Netflix and Prime Video. JioStar Vice President Mr. Uday Shankar has said that the rapid growth of this platform is satisfactory. JioStar faces fierce competition from Netflix and Prime Video in the OTT market. Speaking to the media, Sanjog Gupta, CEO of Geostar Sports, said, “We have connected 2 million households with linear TV. The number of live views in the first 24 matches on Geostar’s digital channels (mobile and connected TV) was eight billion. Digital reach and viewing time have increased by 30 percent. IPL is gaining global recognition as a popular cricket tournament. Advertisers from all over the world have shown interest in being a part of IPL. Due to this, along with membership, advertising revenue is also increasing,” he added.Along with cricket, other sports leagues like Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) and Premier League Football have seen an increase in viewership.The company has seen an influx of other global brands such as DP World, Disney Cruise Line, Aramco, and Saudi Tourism for this IPL season. 32 sponsors have been selected in 2025, including Campa, Samsung, and Birla Opus.According to a report by Bloomberg, citing a senior official, the growth is due to the multilingual live coverage of the IPL. It is understood that OTT subscribers in India are turning to JioStar due to its affordable prices and marquee sports content. Women’s cricket has also been said to be a factor in the increase in viewership. Gupta said, “The company aims to invest significantly in the next two years to take women’s cricket to unprecedented levels and sustain its growth. Our big women’s cup is coming up in October. Even though it costs more to have it happen during Diwali, the company is ambitious to move forward.”While Netflix is investing heavily in Indian original content, JioStar is facing stiff competition from Netflix and Prime Video over their content partnerships to include platforms like Apple TV and Crunchyroll. JioStar aims to reach every OTT customer in the country. They are working to expand their content offerings.Ms. Manya Hardwani, Asst. Prof., Hod – Dept. of Commerce, L. D. Sonawane College, Kalyan (Mumbai), stated that “Increased smartphone penetration , 5G internet infrastructure, and availability of digital wallets led to the growth of streaming platforms not only in urban but also in rural India. The craze among youth, children, and even elders in almost every house towards watching the world’s most exciting sporting event, the IPL, via TV or OTT platform changed the viewing behavior of people as a daily dose of entertainment along with sports. JioHotstar is on track to reach 300 million subscribers by the end of May this year when the Indian Premier League (IPL) ends, leading to a huge source of income not only for organized sectors like hotels, tourism, etc., but also for unorganized sectors like small vendors at roadsides, juice and fruit sellers, and food stalls in general, which directly or indirectly contributed to the growth of employment, savings, consumption, and investment avenues for poor and middle-class people, who had never planned for comforts and luxuries before.As we know, India is a rich country of poor people. Where poor people will also now become a part of financial inclusion and IPL through the JioHotstar platform, not only fulfilling the desire for sports with entertainment but also contributing to sectoral growth and national growth of the economy as a whole .So in all I can say it’s a boon for businesses to expand into industries like advertising media, social media, marketing, etc.”
By Dr. Anupriya Khobragade
For True to Life News Media Pvt. Ltd.