JioStar to invest ₹32,000 crore in content alone in current fiscal

JioStar to invest ₹32,000-33,000 crore in content this year, aiming for 300 million subscribers during IPL season.

JioStar will spend ₹32,000-33,000 crore on content this financial year, said Uday Shankar, Vice Chairman of JioStar at the World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai on Saturday.

In a chat during the event, Shankar said that in FY24, the two companies, Jio Cinema and Disney+Hotstar, spent ₹25,000 crore on content alone. In FY25, that number went to ₹30,000 crore and next year will be over ₹32,000-33,000 crore.

“In three years, we have spent more than $10 billion,” said Shankar, adding that there was a case for more investment.

He said that Indian media companies target Indian consumers with recoveries expected from the same market whereas global companies spend with returns expected from different markets.

Shankar also expressed confidence about reaching 300 million subscribers during this Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Arguing that the two companies came together during a time when Pay TV was considered dead, Shankar said the Pay TV segment has added rather than lost subscriber numbers since we came together.

“We believe that India continues to be an exciting Pay TV market and will continue to be so for a while. This year, be it IPL or entertainment content, we are seeing growth in connectivity,” he said.

Shankar said that more content needs to be made locally, tailored to the Indian market and tastes, to keep pace with the aspirations and requirements of India.

“Ideally, it should travel to the world but you cannot just bring the content that you’re creating for the world, and expect it to keep pace with the surging demand and aspirations [here],” he said.