Viacom18 attributed the surge in JioCinema’s paid users to affordable monthly subscription plans starting at INR 29 and an “expanding” content catalogue
The company added that digital-first reality shows and international content catalogues were one of the top drivers of subscriber acquisition in Q2 FY25
The healthy growth comes at a time when RIL, Viacom 18 and The Walt Disney Company are in the process of merging their operations
Buoyed by affordable monthly plans, Reliance’s streaming platform JioCinema crossed the 1.6 Cr paid subscriber mark at the end of September 2024.
In its quarterly update for the second quarter (Q2) of the fiscal year 2024-25 (FY25), Viacom18 said that the over-the-top (OTT) platform reported a 2X quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) growth during the period under review.
The company attributed the surge in paid users to affordable monthly subscription plans starting at INR 29 and an “expanding” content catalogue.
“JioCinema continued to be the fastest growing subscription-based OTT platform, crossing 16 Mn paid subscribers with a 2X QoQ growth. Affordable monthly subscription plans of INR 29/month and INR 89/month (family plan) and an expanding content catalogue have helped the growth in subscribers,” Viacom 18 said in a BSE filing.
The company added that digital-first reality shows and international content catalogue were one of the top drivers of subscriber acquisition during the quarter under review.
“A combination of comprehensive coverage (of Paris Olympics 2024) and a growing interest in non-cricket sports led to high engagement of over 50 mins per day on JioCinema,” added Viacom18. JioCinema also claims to have become the fastest-growing subscription-based OTT platform in the country in Q2 FY25.
In April this year, the Reliance-owned OTT platform unveiled its INR 29 per month subscription plans, at a steep discount from the industry average of INR 103 per month (Zee5, SonyLiv, Disney+Hotstar premium plan) and INR 358 for Netflix premium plan and Amazon Prime Video.
The healthy growth comes at a time when Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), Viacom 18 and The Walt Disney Company are in the process of merging their operations. To be operated under a joint venture (JV) pegged at $8.5 Bn, the merger will create a media juggernaut that will span 117 TV channels and a combined viewership of 75 Cr viewers.
The merged entity will also include two leading OTT platforms – JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar.
To bolster its presence, JioCinema has aggressively scaled up operations in the past two years by bagging the rights of the Indian Premier League (IPL) and signing partnerships to air shows of American studios such as HBO and NBCUniversal.
