NEW DELHI : JioCinema, owned by Reliance Industries, is adopting a measured approach to its web original strategy by focusing on mid-sized web shows, with estimated annual budget of about ₹1,000 crore, excluding sports. This budget is roughly half the size of leading competitors like Netflix as the platform’s current strategy on web originals is driven by volume primarily to sustain audience interest post-IPL.
While industry experts said that certain titles such as Taali and Asur 2 gained traction and secured top spots on viewership charts, it is evident that JioCinema is targeting a mass-viewing space in the streaming market in India.
Media consultancy Ormax, said Asur 2 ranked fourth in most-watched Hindi webshow in the first half of 2023, accumulated impressive viewership of 19.3 million. In comparison, Shahid Kapoor’s Bloody Daddy was the most-watched Hindi film, with 16.6 million viewers.
The attraction of free programming provided by JioCinema attracts viewers; however, experts suggest that building lasting recall and successful franchises, particularly for tier-two and three audiences, will be an endeavour.
Uday Sodhi, senior partner Kurate Digital Consulting, said sports could skew the entire conversation differently, but players like Netflix or Amazon Prime are spending far more in terms of creating high-impact shows with significant investments per-episode. “Where Jio scores is in creating velocity and making sure volume is higher. For JioCinema, cricket is driving users to download the app whereas the mid-scale web shows are only providing reasons to stay on,” Sodhi said.
Industry insiders said platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime allocate a minimum of ₹40 crore per show for their annual 10-12 high-profile originals, besides substantial investments in acquiring various Indian language movies. JioCinema offers movies, including those produced in-house by Jio Studios.
Karan Taurani, senior vice-president at Elara Capital Ltd, such expenditure is essential, especially as JioCinema pivots towards advertising video-on-demand and mass-market viewers. Netflix leads in spending, followed by Amazon Prime, he added. JioCinema and ZEE5 are expected to invest 50% of the budgets of Netflix.
JioCinema did not respond to queries on its investments, a senior executive said removing paywalls was a significant shift, unlocking the potential of Indian consumers to access premium content.
The executive added that their model differs from the traditional approach and prioritizes volume to provide users with ample content options.
A senior executive at a rival streaming platform said JioCinema is aggressively focused on tie-ups such as with Warner Bros Discovery and will be looking at forging more of these. “Even the mid-scale show strategy could change in the coming months and years as they begin to target different audience segments and tentpole shows could slowly come in,” the person added.
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Updated: 07 Nov 2023, 12:32 AM IST