Reliance-Disney Media Merger To Likely Control Half Of India’s Streaming Market, Step On Advertising Share Of Traditional Players

About 243.5 million users visited 3 streaming platforms, Hotstar (owned by Disney), JioCinema and JioTV, owned by Reliance, in January, data from the US-based analytics firm, Comscore, revealed

The media merger is anticipated to create tough competition for market players like Netflix Inc and Prime Video and miniTV, both offered by Amazon.com

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About half of India’s internet users consumed content in the form of movies, television shows, news, and sports on the streaming platforms operated by Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries and Walt Disney Co., data from the US-based analytics firm, Comscore, revealed. 

The data revealed that these viewing figures were reported before the two firms decided to merge and form a new media giant, reported Bloomberg. Notably, last month Reliance and Disney announced that the Indian conglomerate is acquiring the Indian business of the latter media empire. The firms said that this merger will create a media giant worth $8.5 billion with content ranging from film and television to news and sports, and much more. 

About 243.5 million users visited three streaming platforms, namely, Hotstar (owned by Disney), JioCinema and JioTV, owned by Reliance, in January. During the month, Hotstar received more than 114 million unique visitors, while over 129 million visitors opted for JioCinema and JioTV, the Comscore data revealed. 

The popularity of Hotstar, JioCinema, and JioTV has been driven majorly by the cricket content streamed on the platforms. During the March-May 2023 period, both of Reliance’s platforms received a huge rise in their viewership, credited to the coverage of the Indian Premier League, the data showed. Last year in November, Hotstar received 119 million visitors, due to the Men’s Cricket World Cup being streamed on the platform.

The media merger is anticipated to create tough competition for market players like Netflix Inc and Prime Video and miniTV, both offered by Amazon.com, along with other local platforms like MXPlayer (operated by Times Internet), and Zee5 (owned by Zee Entertainment Ltd.). 

Not only content, the merged entity is anticipated to control a majority of the advertising market in the country as well, in turn, impacting traditional media broadcasters, the report said citing Karan Taurani, senior vice president, Elara Securities India Pvt. Taurani, in his research note, added that this merger ‘could have a negative impact on other linear TV broadcasters, such as Sun TV, Z Sony, and others, as they may not be scale up on market share’.