Defunct Indian subscription video on demand service
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In April 2022, the service was brought under Reliance'sViacom18 joint venture, backed by new funding fromUday Shankar andJames Murdoch's Bodhi Tree Systems. JioCinema began to subsume Viacom18's existing streaming platformVoot later that year, beginning with sports programming in October, and Voot being officially discontinued in favour of JioCinema in August 2023.
JioCinema was launched on 5 September 2016 byJio Platforms as part of a suite of apps and services exclusive toJio mobile subscribers, with JioCinema app forAndroid andiOS. In December 2017, JioCinema added a web-based version forPCs.[3][4] A JioCinema app was also released for Jio'sKaiOS-based Jio Phone.[5]
In April 2022,Viacom18—a joint venture betweenParamount Global and Jio's parent companyNetwork18 Group—announced that Qatar-backed Bodhi Tree Systems (founded by former Disney Asia-Pacific presidentUday Shankar and former21st Century Fox CEOJames Murdoch) would make a major investment in the company with a focus on bolstering its streaming businesses. As part of the deal, JioCinema would be brought under Viacom18.[11] In September 2022, theCompetition Commission of India approved the transaction, which was completed in April 2023.[12][13][11]
In October 2022, before the2022 FIFA World Cup, it was announced that Viacom18 sports content would move from their existing streaming platformVoot to JioCinema, with all World Cup matches streaming for free.[14][15] The platform was made available to all users, including non-Jio users. Its coverage faced criticism from viewers on social media for initially having technical issues such as buffering; JioCinema stated that it would work to address these issues.[16]
Voot began to migrate its original productions to JioCinema in June 2023, including new seasons ofAsur andBigg Boss OTT. In August 2023, Voot was discontinued, with JioCinema assuming its content library, and existing Voot Select subscribers being migrated to JioCinema Premium.[19][20]
Disney+Hotstar and JioCinema merger (2024–present)
In October 2024, Employees ofRIL revealed thatDisney+ Hotstar and JioCinema will officially merge into a single platform. Back in February 2024,Reliance andDisney agreed on a $8.5 billion merger of their media assets.Nita Ambani will serve as the chairperson of the merged entity whileUday Shankar from Bodhi Tree Systems will be the vice-chair.[21][22] Shortly after news of the merger reached the media and the public, a user known as "A Dreamer" registered the domain name "jiohotstar.com". The user requested Reliance to fund his education in exchange for the domain; initially requesting £93,345 from Reliance, matching the fees for his education programme. However, this request was turned down by Ambujesh Yadav, AVP of Commercials at Reliance.[23]
In December 2024, Reliance Industries acquired the domain jiohotstar.com,[24] giving rise to speculations that Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema would officially merge into a single platform.
On 14 February 2025, JioCinema along with Disney+ Hotstar were merged and launched asJioHotstar, subsequently JioCinema transferred existing subscribers to JioHotstar.[25]
In December 2019, JioCinema partnered withSun NXT to host over 4,000 films available on the Sun NXT platform[29][30][31][32] across four Indian languages:Tamil,Telugu,Kannada, andMalayalam. In May 2020, JioCinema partnered withHoichoi to provide Hindi-dubbed Bengali content.[33]
In May 2022,Paramount Global announced thatParamount+ would launch in India through Viacom18 in 2023, however Paramount never launched its streaming platform in India and instead brought their content to JioCinema Premium.
In April 2023, Jio Studios unveiled a slate of 100 new titles that would eventually be available on JioCinema.[34] The same month,Warner Bros. Discovery announced an agreement with JioCinema for it to carryHBO andMax original programming, as well as otherWarner Bros. Television Studios content. The deal succeeds a previous agreement with Hotstar andAmazon Prime Video, respectively.[35][36] HBO content would premiere day-and-date with their U.S. broadcast.[17] HBO and Warner Bros. content would launch in May 2023 as part of the new JioCinema Premium tier.
As of April 2024, JioCinema re-launched the JioCinema Premium subscription service, with pricing starting at Rs. 29 per month.[72] This service offers ad-free streaming, support for up to 4K video quality, and offline viewing capabilities. A family plan available at Rs. 89 per month allows simultaneous access on four screens.[73]
As perStatista's Q2 2020 report, JioCinema had a 7% market share among many competitors likeNetflix andAmazon Prime Video, which had a 20% market share each;Disney+ Hotstar, which had a 17% market share;ZEE5 with a 9% market share;ALTBalaji andSonyLIV, which had a 4% market share each; and other streaming platforms, which had a 19% market share.[74]
The2023 Indian Premier League final set a new record for concurrent viewership of a streaming broadcast. JioCinema reported that the match peaked at 32 million concurrent viewers (beating a record set during the2019 Cricket World Cup by Hotstar) and was seen by over 120 million unique viewers.[75][76]
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