JioHotstar will do a Jio in the OTT landscape, creating a monopoly, say experts

The JioHotstar merger is set to significantly reshape the Indian OTT landscape, as the combined entity brings together two of the most dominant players in the market – JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. With JioCinema already securing IPL’s digital rights and Star retaining TV rights, this merger positions JioHotstar as a formidable competitor to Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Elaborating on the entertainment offering, Kevin Vaz, CEO – Entertainment, JioStar, said, “JioHotstar is setting a new benchmark for digital-first entertainment. The platform is immersive, inclusive, and audience centric. While we have endless entertainment to offer, we are committed to continually innovate and elevate storytelling, ensuring that every Indian, regardless of language, discovers content they love.”

JioHotstar’s new brand identity embodies its vision for boundless entertainment. The ‘Big Bang’ symbolizes the dawn of a new era, while the ‘Ripples’ radiate outward, representing energy, transformation, and innovation.

Speaking on the implifications of JioHotstar for the OTT landscape, Lloyd Mathias, Business Strategist and Marketing Expert, said, “The merger will significantly alter the OTT landscape, as both JioCinema and Hotstar have been dominant players, particularly in the sports segment. Their combined strength will challenge Netflix and Amazon Prime, especially with IPL’s digital rights under JioCinema and TV rights with Star.”

Brand Guru Jagdeep Kapoor, Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Samsika Marketing Consultants, highlighted the broader industry implications. He noted, “The OTT landscape will experience the same consolidation as the telecom business a few years ago, with a few large players compared to many fragmented ones. JioHotstar is poised to become and stay one of the largest in terms of subscriber base, just like Jio did in telecom.”

JioHotstar’s AI-driven personalization and multi-language accessibility also provide a unique competitive edge. “While AI-driven recommendations are already in use by platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, JioHotstar has a major advantage in multi-language accessibility,” Mathias said, adding, “Their ability to provide regional language feeds, particularly for live sports like IPL, gives them a strong edge in audience engagement.”

Kapoor added here, “AI will eat traditional software for lunch, and this trend will extend to OTT and personalization too. If JioHotstar can leverage AI effectively, it could provide much more personalized recommendations, automated captions, and dubbed content, reducing the cost of translating content in a multilingual country like ours.”

Rajnish Rawat, Co-Founder, Social Pill, believes JioHotstar’s AI capabilities will redefine content discovery. “AI is JioHotstar’s secret weapon, and it is about to turn content discovery into a battlefield. Unlike Netflix, which relies solely on viewing habits, JioHotstar’s AI aims to offer hyper-personalized recommendations across multiple languages. This means regional content could become national sensations overnight.”

JioHotstar’s approach to monetization is another crucial factor. “Jio has a history of disrupting markets, similar to how it revolutionized telecom pricing with Jio SIM cards,” Mathias pointed out. “Initially, JioCinema offered premium sports content like IPL and FIFA World Cup for free. Now, they have introduced subscription pricing starting at Rs 149 per month, signaling a shift toward a more structured revenue model,” he added.

Kapoor agreed that pricing models will see a shift. “AVOD is already a reality in Netflix and other OTT plans globally. Eventually, content development costs will make subscription-only models unsustainable. JioHotstar may accelerate this transition, as advertising personalization becomes more advanced. But there will always be a premium segment preferring high-quality streaming without ads.”

Rawat argued that JioHotstar is fundamentally changing the rules of the game. He emphasised, “Jio isn’t competing with Netflix and Prime – it’s rewriting the rules. The launch of JioHotstar is not just an industry development – it’s a power move that will force every streaming giant to either evolve or get left behind. With blockbuster content, live sports, and a free tier undercutting every competitor, it’s creating an OTT monopoly that’s impossible to ignore.”

With both AVOD (Ad-supported Video on Demand) and SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) models in play, JioHotstar’s impact on competition is inevitable. “JioHotstar’s aggressive pricing and bundled offerings are likely to push competitors to re-evaluate their pricing strategies,” Mathias said, adding, “Their parent entity, Network18, has already increased advertising rates for television feeds, indicating a strong monetization push.”

Rawat foresaw a major transformation in consumer behaviour. “With its ad-supported model and dirt-cheap subscription plans, JioHotstar is about to do to the OTT industry what Jio did to telecom – democratize access, drive down prices, and make the competition scramble for relevance.”

Looking ahead, the future of the OTT space in India seems to be heading towards a balanced mix of AVOD and SVOD models. “The OTT space will evolve as more consumers start paying for premium content. Jio-Hotstar is well-positioned to lead this transition with its strong sports and regional content offerings,” concluded Mathias.

Abhijeet Rajpurohit, COO and Co-founder, CloudTV, too, said that the launch of JioHotstar will have a huge impact on the OTT landscape in India. According to him, “Global players like Netflix (or even YouTube) may need to reassess their OEM partnership policies, which currently restrict their ability to distribute their apps effectively.”

On the potential of AI-driven personalization, Rajpurohit highlighted, “One of the biggest challenges in OTT is content discovery and browsing fatigue. AI not only enhances the user experience, but also makes content discovery and search easier for the consumer. This ensures that the users spend more time watching content rather than browsing and switching between platforms.”

Commenting on how JioHotstar’s pricing models could disrupt the industry, Rajpurohit said, “The Indian OTT landscape has now entered a significantly more mature phase. There are platforms that either own their intellectual properties (IPs) or possess exclusive access to them. While global players offer content with broad international appeal, leading Indian OTT platforms like JioHotstar boast extensive libraries, including premium offerings like HBO and Marvel, as well as mass-appealing properties such as the IPL. Additionally, regional OTT services like Aha, Chaupal, and SunNXT have cultivated loyal audiences through their original, region-specific content. Given this evolution and the diverse needs of the Indian audiences, OTT platforms are well-positioned to explore price increases for their subscription plans in the coming year. Furthermore, the introduction of more affordable ad-supported video-on-demand (AVOD) plans could provide a balanced approach to monetization, catering to both premium and cost-conscious viewers.”

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