Reliance’s over-the-top (OTT) platform, JioCinema, has made a strategic move by discontinuing free content streaming and introducing paid subscription plans. The new Premium subscription plan, priced at INR 999 per year, provides access to Warner Bros and HBO content. However, JioCinema will continue to offer free streaming of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and recently added Bollywood films like Vikram Vedha.
Last month, Viacom18 signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar content deal with Warner Bros Discovery, allowing JioCinema to stream HBO, Max Originals, and Warner Bros content in India.
“We believe the pricing is at the lower end of premium OTT platforms’ annual pricing – Hotstar, Amazon, Netflix – whose pricing ranges from Rs 1000-2000 for an annual plan. However, we don’t anticipate a large-scale paid subscriber base due to this, as the Indian audience is value-driven and may not pay this much solely for HBO/Warner Bros content,” said Karan Taurani, Senior Vice President & Research Analyst at Elara Capital.
JioCinema has recently been in the spotlight for acquiring the IPL streaming rights from Disney+Hotstar. Just five weeks into the IPL 2023, the OTT platform has already garnered 1.3 billion video views. While Hotstar lost approximately 3.8 million subscribers after losing the streaming rights, JioCinema reported that 25 sponsors have already lined up for the ongoing cricket tournament.
Media Partners Asia predicts that JioCinema will capture 60% of the total IPL 2023 ad revenue. They also estimate that digital ad revenue will surpass TV ads for the first time, with JioCinema’s ad gross merchandise value (GMV) potentially reaching $330-350 million.
In addition to the subscription plan announcement, JioCinema revealed plans to release 100 movies and TV shows over the next 18-24 months, with a production cost exceeding INR 2,000 crore. These projects will span various languages and genres.
JioCinema’s introduction of a paid subscription plan comes at a time when the Indian OTT market is expected to reach INR 581.21 billion by FY 2027. However, the market is highly competitive, with viewers having numerous alternatives such as AltBalaji, Amazon Prime, and Netflix.
Interestingly, Amazon has raised its monthly and quarterly subscription prices in India, while Netflix has indicated that it may charge Indian users extra for password sharing in the near future. As JioCinema enters the paid subscription landscape, it remains to be seen how well it will be received by Indian audiences amidst the growing options and price changes in the market.
