(Bloomberg) -- Sign up for the India Edition newsletter by Menaka Doshi – an insider's guide to the emerging economic powerhouse, and the billionaires and businesses behind its rise, delivered weekly.
JioStar, the entity created from the merger of Reliance Industries Ltd.’s media business with Walt Disney Co.’s local unit, is looking to capture a large chunk of the nation’s $28 billion entertainment market currently dominated by Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc.
The streaming service aims to do that by offering affordable options for India’s cost-conscious consumers, Uday Shankar, vice chairman of the venture, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin on Friday.
The company, which claims to reach 750 million of India’s 1.4 billion people, will design digital products and solutions for what he described as “many Indias in India.”
“We are looking at really taking a large slice of India,” Shankar said, a day after the completion of the merger deal between Reliance-affiliate Viacom18 Media Pvt and the Disney unit. “I think media companies in India and globally have been very lazy in innovating on monetization models. You will see a lot of focus in our new company” on innovations.
Read: Murdoch Partner Helps Asia’s Richest Man Build a Media Empire
India is one of the fastest growing media markets in the world, thanks to a large young and digital-savvy population that consumes a lot of sports and entertainment content. The country’s diverse regional cultures and languages present both challenges and opportunities for global streaming players looking to crack the market.
While Paramount Global and Disney sold their business to Reliance, Netflix and Amazon’s Prime Video have focused on growing their subscriber-base through more local content.
Reliance has invested 115 billion rupees ($1.4 billion) into the joint venture for its growth, the Indian conglomerate controlled by billionaire Mukesh Ambani said in a statement Thursday.
Read: Reliance, Disney India’s $8.5 Billion Merger Wins Antitrust Nod
JioStar has streaming and broadcasting rights ranging from cricket and football games to Hollywood films and dramas. With more than 50 million subscribers on JioCinema and Hotstar platforms, JioStar achieves a dominant position in the streaming industry.
Still, the merged company’s annual cost on sports streaming rights remains a challenge how it’d quickly turnaround the business.
“There is a lot of stress on account of the cricket rights,” Shankar said. “If we expand the reach of cricket even more and if we open up the universe of potential advertisers who can have access to the cricket audiences, there’s significant growth possible.”
--With assistance from Saritha Rai and Naman Tandon.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.