JioHotstar Expands Streaming Services to UK, Canada, Singapore

Streaming platform JioHotstar, a product of the joint venture between Reliance Industries’ Viacom18 and Star India Private Limited, has announced its expansion into the UK, Canada, and Singapore. The move marks a strategic effort by the entity to capture the South Asian diaspora and broader international audiences through a localized content and pricing strategy.

The expansion includes a library of approximately 1.6 lakh hours of content across 12 languages, featuring a mix of web series, films, and regional programming. To penetrate these mature markets, the company has implemented region-specific subscription tiers, with pricing tailored to local currencies in the UK, Canada, and Singapore.

Amit Malhotra, head of international business at JioStar, stated that the company intends to move beyond mere content exportation, focusing instead on building a product experience that addresses the cultural affinity of the diaspora while appealing to global viewers. The platform plans to integrate a regular cadence of fresh content, adding over 30,000 hours annually to support its international growth.

This international foray follows the formal integration of Viacom18 and Star India, a consolidation that created one of India’s largest entertainment conglomerates. With a reported base of 50 crore monthly average users and a substantial library, the company is leveraging its scale to compete against global streaming incumbents like Netflix and Amazon Prime, which have also prioritized the Indian market as a central pillar of their global growth strategies.

Analysts view this expansion as a critical test for the JioStar joint venture, as it seeks to convert its dominant domestic market share into a sustainable international revenue stream amidst intensifying competition in the global over-the-top (OTT) sector.