JioCinema Joins the World of Original Content

The high-profile Cricket IPL’s official digital streaming partner, JioCinema, is creating waves in the Indian streaming market by foraying into original content creation. JioCinema Enters the World of Original Content The free app is about to change into a subscription service with Jio Studios releasing an amazing selection of over 100 films, web series, and mini-series in an effort to gain a greater portion of the competitive but fast expanding Indian streaming industry.

Jio Studios, the media and content division of Reliance Industries, has released a vast collection of stories in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, South Indian languages, and Bhojpuri. Mumbai hosted the announcement, which included original web series, movies, and shorts. Additionally, Jio Studios and West Bengal’s famed studio, SVF Entertainment, have struck a multi-year, multi-film partnership to generate content with well-known actors including Mithun Chakraborty and Dhrubo Banerjee.

Jiocinema is using this momentum as the wildly popular cricket IPL continues to draw record-breaking viewership, and it has plans to launch some of its online originals while the IPL crowd is still interested. By charging users for access, the app hopes to generate revenue from this material. The Reliance-backed Viacom18 has acquired the digital rights to the Tata IPL season, which takes place from March 31 to May 28, 2023. The matches are presently being broadcast by JioCinema at no cost in an effort to attract more viewers before eventually charging a membership fee.

JioCinema’s wealthy parent firm, Reliance Industries, is supporting the ambitious aspirations the company has for its OTT business. This growth occurs at a time when major international streaming services like Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, and Amazon Prime Video are encountering difficulties in the Indian market. In addition, JioCinema and Disney Star are involved in a fierce fight after JioCinema outbid Disney+ Hotstar, the previous IPL rights holder, to obtain digital rights for the 2023–27 cycle. This IPL season is seeing a stronger conflict between TV and internet outlets as a result of Disney Star keeping the TV rights.

For the first time in the 2023–2027 cycle, the BCCI chose to divide IPL broadcasting rights into distinct digital and TV packages. Previously, Star India (now Disney Star) and its streaming service, Disney+ Hotstar, owned both the TV and digital IPL rights. With a bid of Rs 23,575 crore, Disney Star secured the India TV rights, while JioCinema owner and Reliance-backed Viacom18 acquired the digital rights for Rs 23,758 crore.

The head of RIL Media and Content Business, Jyoti Deshpande, has expressed enthusiasm for this new age in Indian entertainment. In the middle of the digital upheaval, narrative, according to Deshpande, is gaining center stage. Jio Studios has painstakingly worked to build a solid foundation in an industry historically characterized by fragmentation since its founding five years ago.

Deshpande is also leading initiatives as CEO of Viacom18, which includes the programming division, distribution company, and other media businesses of Jio Studios. The portfolio of Viacom18 consists of 59 channels, Jio’s mobility and fiber-to-the-home platform businesses, two OTT platforms (JioCinema and Voot), the movie and digital content production and distribution vertical Viacom18 Studios, experiential entertainment provider Integrated Network Solutions, and the merchandising arm Viacom18 Consumer Products.

JioCinema is still well-positioned to transform the Indian streaming market by providing a large audience with a variety of high-quality entertainment options as it continues its entry into original content and investigates a subscription-based model.