July 28, 2023

Reliance’s JioCinema: The Rising Star of India’s Streaming Market

Reliance's streaming platform, JioCinema, is poised for exponential growth with strategic partnerships and extensive subscriber base, positioning itself as a formidable contender in the Indian streaming market. By: Toh Yan Yun

Reliance Media Entertainment, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, has always been at the forefront of India’s entertainment sphere. In recent years, the company has expanded its presence by venturing into the digital streaming space.

Last November, the streamer telecasted the FIFA World Cup in India for free, garnering more than 110 million viewers during the showing. Following this success, JioCinema also ventured into streaming cricket matches from the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the world’s richest franchise sports tournaments, valued at US$10.9 billion ($S14.7 billion). This development comes after a bidding war with Disney over the digital rights to five seasons of IPL tournaments. It has been disclosed that Viacom 18, the Reliance venture that owns JioCinema, secured the streaming rights for IPL from 2023 to 2027 in a deal that amounted to 237 billion rupees. The platform had similarly chosen to broadcast IPL matches for free this year, drawing over 150 billion views within the first seven weeks.

Beyond the live sports scene, Reliance is also making significant investments in the entertainment domain. In April, the company’s studio arm (Jio Studios) unveiled plans to delegate 20 billion rupees to the production of over hundred new films and TV shows that will play on Reliance’s streaming platforms. Its slate of content spans from the previously-announced Shah Rukh Khan-starring Bollywood movie project Dunki, through Adil Hussain’s art-house picture The Storyteller, which appeared at the Busan Film Festival last year, to a range of web originals and mini-series. Contents are made as originals and will be available in local languages including Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Bhojpuri. The company has since termed the lineup “the single largest slate ever produced by an Indian studio in a given year” while also calling it a “game changer” and “explosive.”

Apart from JioCinema, Reliance Industries controls the Viacom18 Tv joint venture and operates Jio TV, one of the five most downloaded streaming apps in the fast-growing Indian market. JioCinema currently aggregates content from supplies such as AltBalaji, Eros Now, Paramount, Shemaroo Entertainment and Viacom18. While the platform operates on an ad-supported model at present, it is expected to introduce subscription fees later this year.

Reliance’s efforts to dominate the streaming sphere have yielded fruitful partnerships. Just this May, JioCinema struck a deal with Warner Bros Discovery to bring content from HBO, Max, and Warner to its platform. The agreement grants JioCinema the ability to add popular shows such as the Game of Thrones, Lord of The Rings and the Harry Potter series to its growing catalogue. Soon after, Viacom18 cinched another coup, signing an agreement with NBCUniversal Media for content from Universal Television, Sky Studios and DreamWorks Animation. This will include shows such as The Office, Downton Abbey and Suits as well as movie franchises such as Jurassic, Bourne, Shrek, and Fast & Furious.

Evidently, JioCinema has witnessed remarkable growth since its inception in 2016. As Ferzad Palia, the head of Viacom18, has likewise argued, “JioCinema has become the biggest platform for live sports. We are now on a mission to build the most magnetic destination for entertainment for all Indians.” Although it still occupies a minor role in the Indian streaming market, which remains dominated by global giants such as Disney+, Netflix, and Amazon Prime, Media Partners Asia suggested in a May report that JioCinema could shake things up, saying: “The platform has increased its investment in local content and premium international content, setting the stage for the growth of its premium tier.” With Reliance Jio extensive subscriber rate boasting over seven million wired broadband subscribers and 473 million mobile subscribers, it is forecasted that JioCinema will attain a unique advantage in capturing a significant share of the streaming market.

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