Salman Khan to Sourav Ganguly: JioStar bets big on six Bigg Boss editions as festive battle for viewers heats up

As broadcasters prepare for the festive season, Reliance's JioStar is rolling out its biggest-ever expansion of the Bigg Boss franchise, with six editions of the reality show set to air across Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bangla. The company will launch all six versions from September 2026 across the JioStar television network and streaming platform JioHotstar, marking the largest multi-language rollout in the show's history.

Salman Khan will return as host for Bigg Boss Hindi edition, while Vijay Sethupati, Nagarjuna, Kichcha Sudeepa and Mohanlal will host the Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam versions respectively. Joining the franchise for the first time is former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, who will host the Bangla edition, adding another high-profile name to the line-up.

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The broadcaster said bringing together six editions across languages represents the biggest milestone for the reality show since its launch. The expansion comes as television networks and streaming platforms compete aggressively for audiences and advertisers during the country's key festive period.

"This festive season marks our biggest milestone yet as six editions come together across languages, making it the biggest-ever celebration of the show. The enduring strength of Bigg Boss lies in its ability to drive sustained audience participation and create shared cultural moments that translate into measurable business outcomes for brands... At JioStar, we believe shows like Bigg Boss deserve to be documented, not just celebrated," said Mahesh Shetty, Head – Entertainment Sales, TV, JioStar.

According to JioStar, the Bigg Boss franchise reached more than 500 million people in 2025, generating over 438 billion viewing minutes across its six language editions. Audience engagement also rose 47% year on year during the period.

The company, in a coffee table book titled India's Bigg Reality, said Bigg Boss attracts more than 200 million viewers across Hindi-speaking markets and over 300 million viewers in southern India. In the South, eight out of every 10 television viewers engage with the programme. The book added that the show's reach is 3.5 times higher than that of all other reality shows in the region combined, highlighting the scale of its multilingual presence.

JioStar said the franchise generated more than 1.7 billion social engagements and produced over 30 million user-generated memes during 2025.

"Driven by a 47% year-on-year growth in engagement—fuelled by 24/7 live feeds, billions of votes, and live chats—the show transforms passive viewers into active participants," said Bhaskar Ramesh, Head – Entertainment Sales, Digital, JioStar..

The company said the 2025 season attracted more than 625 advertisers across 46 categories, including 49 first-time advertisers. According to JioStar, participating brands recorded average gains of 1.33 times in awareness, 1.26 times in consideration and 1.25 times in purchase intent.