Streaming giant JioHotstar announced on Tuesday that the company would invest Rs. 4,000 crore over the next five years to go deeper into the South India entertainment market, so they say, in its largest regional push yet.
The investment will fund production and acquire content in the languages of Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam, underpinning a collection of 25-plus new titles from original series and films to reality and non-fiction formats. The platform plans to launch approximately 1,500 hours of new South-language content over the next 12 months.
Besides content creation, JioHotstar is investing heavily in building a strong creative ecosystem. The plan includes writing labs, mentorship tracks, workshops, internships, and job opportunities for filmmakers, writers, editors, VFX artists, and digital storytellers.
Under this, JioHotstar inked a Letter of Intent with the Government of Tamil Nadu: the first step towards an expanded production infrastructure in the state.
This push by the OTT platform comes on the back of a surge in viewer engagement from the South. According to senior JioStar executives, the audience in the southern states spends about 70% more time on the platform than users in other regions. They are also said to explore a wider variety of genres, watching up to 50% more types of content across more titles per month.
In addition to original programming and film acquisitions, the South strategy at JioHotstar will also cover non-scripted formats, including reality shows. The company said it intends to cater to both younger audiences and family-oriented viewers, especially given the rising adoption of smart TVs and connected-TV viewing in southern households.
The move, executives at JioHotstar say, is not only about more regional content but also about nurturing talent, expanding infrastructure for a creative economy that would be ‘future-ready’ and rooted in the South.
The Rs. 4,000 crore investment by JioHotstar, with major backing and a broad slate of content at its core, signals a major bet that South India will be a powerhouse in India's streaming landscape.