Reliance-Disney Alliance Poised for 50% Market Share in Indian Streaming

Merger of Reliance and Disney

Headed by Mukesh Ambani It is anticipated that Disney and Reliance Industries would together control close to 50% of the Indian streaming industry. In India, rivals Netflix and Amazon Prime Video are anticipated to face serious obstacles as a result of the Reliance-Disney deal.

More than half of India's internet users watched movies, TV shows, sports, news, and other material on streaming services run by Reliance and Walt Disney before the companies announced their plan to unite to create a media behemoth.

This figure, which was taken from a Bloomberg story that used Comscore data, highlights how important these firms are to the development of digital entertainment in India.

Disney's Indian operations will be acquired by Reliance, forming a $8.5 billion media conglomerate that would provide movies, TV series, news, and sports material.

According to the research, 243.5 million users, or 46.6% of the Indian market share, accessed three of the platforms: JioCinema and JioTV from Reliance, and Hotstar from Disney. JioCinema and JioTV attracted over 129 million visits, while Hotstar had over 144 million unique visitors.

For JioCinema, JioTV, and Hotstar to succeed, cricket streaming has been crucial. Due to its coverage of the Indian Premier League, Reliance platforms had a significant increase in viewing between March and May 2023, according to Comscore data.

In November of the previous year, 191 million people visited Hotstar, largely due to the Men's Cricket World Cup.

The firm stated last month that Reliance and Walt Disney had signed legally binding definitive agreements to create a joint venture to integrate the operations of Viacom18 and Star India.

Mukesh Ambani promised a large investment of $1.4 billion, or Rs 11,500 crore, as part of the joint venture's development plan.

The joint venture was valued at Rs 70,352 crore, or $8.5 billion post-money, without taking synergies into account. This capital infusion made a substantial contribution to the firm's worth.

RIL will be in charge of the new business and hold 16.34% of it, followed by Viacom18 with 46.82 percent and Disney with 36.84 percent. The combined company will be led by Nita Ambani, with Uday Shankar, a former senior Disney executive, serving as vice chair.