In the process, it is positioning itself as a rival to Amazon Prime and helping the streaming platform crystallize in the Indian market.
Sports viewing platforms are on one side, led by Viacom18, owned by Reliance Industries, after recently winning the digital streaming rights of the IPL. 23,758 crore for 2023-27. On the other hand there are entertainment-led platforms, presumably for the same group of customers in post-pandemic India.
The Walt Disney-owned streaming service is buying up big-ticket movies and bringing new web originals to the platform. Later this week, Hotstar will premiere Kamal Haasan’s latest Tamil hit Vikram, which he anticipated 100 crores.
Media analysts said the platform is gearing up its slate of South Indian films and web shows and will be based on its international origins, including Marvel, dubbed in multiple languages to woo the younger audience.
One of them had earlier estimated that with the IPL moving to the Reliance-owned platform, the platform could lose up to 50% of its paid subscribers.
“Disney+ Hotstar will clearly have a visible direct impact (on the existing customer base) which can be expected on 15-20 million users. This will still leave the brand with around 30 million user base, which will be quite neck and neck with Amazon Prime Video, said Aditya Pandit, associate director-media, media agency Caret India.
The “advantage” Hotstar gets out of it, he said, is the eye-watering save needed to win the IPL rights. “How well the brand survives without IPL and utilizes the big savings will be a story to see,” Pandit said. Pointing out that the platform will benefit from exclusive Disney and Marvel content.
Disney+ Hotstar is present in India and other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia with around 50 million subscribers.
In her May earnings call, Christine McCarthy, senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of The Walt Disney Company, said the platform has about 500 shows in the pipeline for local content outside the English-speaking market, including 100 for India alone. Huh. ,
Karan Taurani, an analyst at Elara Capital Ltd, said that over the next few months the platform could make big investments in non-cricket content, including large-scale web shows that could significantly increase the cost for web originals across the industry. .
In addition to the latest international original Ms. Marvel, which premiered in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, Hotstar has announced the third season of its crime thriller Arya starring Sushmita Sen; Telugu political drama tradition; A show with Hindi original Shoorveer and YouTuber Bhuvan Bam titled Taza Khabar.
The platform did not respond to Mint’s queries on its strategies to deal with potential customer churn after the IPL debacle. However, a person familiar with the company’s strategy said that both Indian and international content will keep Hotstar’s customers engaged.
“Thor, which releases this week, will be on Disney+ Hotstar within 10 weeks. We also have Koffee With Karan exclusively for streaming customers, starting this week.”
He added that cricket fans were not alone on Disney+ Hotstar for the IPL, noting that the OTT service still has many cricket properties.
“While the ICC and BCCI are with the service till 2023, soon you will see the Asia Cup in August and then the T20 World Cup in October. So, yes, there could be some churn, but not to the extent predicted by analysts,” the person said.
However, in an earlier interview, Siddharth Shakdher, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Disney+ Hotstar, said that the platform may have started as a destination for cricket, but it is no longer the case.
“We have great international content and local original content. If you are a sports lover, then of course there is cricket too, but we don’t need to grab that point now. What we need to build on is that we are a platform with the best of Indian and International content. So now there is a huge inclination towards it in our operations,” Shakadher said.
Gaurav Banerjee, Head, Content, Disney+ Hotstar and HSM (Hindi-speaking market) entertainment network, Disney Star India also said earlier that the platform has received an “unprecedented response” to its regional, as well as dubbed international titles.
“Language is no longer a barrier to accessing compelling content, we aim to create multiple avenues to discover content in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam to keep our audience engaged at all times. We will continue to focus on South Indian content as we bring exciting titles to our viewers.”
An executive from a rival streaming platform agreed that Hotstar will need to be aggressive on offering regional languages and premium movies.
“Otherwise, they risk losing their cricket base completely,” said the person, who has been named. On IPL, Hotstar estimates that it has almost 1,200 crore from both advertising and subscription.
To be sure, major video-streaming companies like Hotstar, Netflix, Prime Video, ZEE5 and SonyLIV may not have IPL rights to claim, but they have already made huge investments in other types of content. Reasons will be able to move forward. And because consumption patterns differ, said Kedar Kulkarni, vice president of digital, PureTech Digital, a digital agency.
“Many people use these platforms as part of a deal with their telecom service provider. Audiences in Tier-II and Tier-III cities opt for such deals on annual subscriptions,” Kulkarni said.
Estimating subscriber churn may not be as easy as the annual pack will ensure viewers turn to content other than IPL which only lasts for two months.
It also means a lot for Voot, the platform owned by Viacom18, which has won the digital rights to the IPL, building its entertainment portfolio around the IPL, said Shailesh Kapoor, founder and CEO of media consulting firm Ormax. Done as a tentpole property. As of now, it hasn’t acquired too many movies, and has focused on select web-series.