Disney+ Hotstar reports highest ever subscriber loss in the June quarter

In June last year, Disney-Star lost the right to broadcast the IPL on the digital platform to Reliance-owned Viacom18. Meanwhile, the partnership between HBO and Hotstar has also ended, leaving the platform without some of its most successful and watched shows like Succession, Game of Thrones, Westworld among others. JioCinema has already signed a deal with HBO for its content.

JioCinema has also launched a range of original content in local languages, including Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, and Bhojpuri. Genres range from action, drama, thriller and romance to horror and musicals.

Disney+ Hotsar has been steadily losing subscribers over the last few quarters. In fact, the platform lost over one crore subscribers between September 2022 and March 2023. The decline coincided with the absence of its most popular offerings - HBO content and the IPL. Analysts had projected that the loss of IPL's digital rights could cost them 15-25 million subscribers. Over the last three quarters, the platform has lost 21 million subscribers.

The decline in subscribers also coincides with the rise of Reliance Industries-owned JioCinema, which has now come very close to YouTube's monthly viewership. As per the June quarter release from Reliance Industries, 449 million people tuned in for the IPL, with 120 million of those joining for the final itself. IPL on JioCinema also delivered record advertising revenue.

JioCinema’s advertising revenue was higher than TV itself as the platform attracted more than 13 times the number of advertisers on TV.

The move by JioCinema to offer free IPL streaming has led to Hotstar following suit for the upcoming ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023. It remains to be seen if viewers tune in with similar numbers for the same.