JioHotstar Boosts Investment in South Indian Content
JioHotstar plans to invest Rs 4,000 crore in South Indian content over the next five years, aiming to offer 1,500 hours of new programming within the next year. This follows a 70% increase in viewership for Southern content, surpassing the national average, according to Krishnan Kutty, head of cluster entertainment (South) at JioHotstar.
IMAGE: Narain, Rajit Kapur, Nivin Pauly, Shruti Ramachandran, and Veena Nandakumar in Pharma.
The platform has seen significant engagement with South Indian content, which is setting trends rather than following them. Kutty and Sushant Sreeram, CMO & head of SVOD at JioHotstar, noted that the South has become a key growth area, outperforming other regions in subscription depth, retention, and connected TV adoption.
New Content Slate Announced
On Tuesday, JioHotstar unveiled a slate of 25 new titles, including originals, films, and series. This announcement follows Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros, which may affect English content viewership on JioHotstar, prompting regional platforms to focus more on local genres.
IMAGE: Nagarjuna in Bigg Boss.
Other OTT platforms, such as Z5, are targeting Tier-II and III cities with culturally rooted stories and language-specific offers to expand their reach in the South.
Future Growth and Innovations
Kutty expressed confidence in maintaining momentum in the South, with plans to innovate content formats. Over the last ten months, JioHotstar collaborated with over 500 creatives, with 75% of South originals launching on the platform.
In a Chennai roundtable, the company announced efforts to strengthen Tamil Nadu’s creative ecosystem through government engagement, supporting creative labs, and offering internships.
IMAGE: Kalyani Priyadarshan in Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra.
With 400 million users, JioHotstar reaches all of India’s pin codes and boasts the largest connected TV audience with over 85 million devices. Sreeram highlighted that Southern subscribers spend more time on diverse content, leading to higher retention and growth.
Popular Shows and Advertiser Interest
Fantasy films like Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra and Mirai have become top-watched movies. Shows like Bigg Boss and Heartbeat have also been highly successful, with the latter recording 100 million hours of consumption this year.
IMAGE: A scene from Heartbeat.
Local advertisers are increasingly investing in JioHotstar due to its extensive reach, with a 50% increase in local advertisers over the past ten months. The platform is using AI to enhance productivity across content creation stages.
