Ambani's JioHotstar begins operations in UK, Canada & Singapore targetting millions of Indians abroad

JioHotstar, India’s largest video streaming platform, is expanding overseas for the first time, launching in the UK, Canada and Singapore as it seeks to tap millions of potential viewers in the growing South Asian diaspora.

JioHotstar is run by JioStar, the media joint venture between Walt Disney Co. and billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries. The platform will offer more than 1.6 lakh hours of content across over 12 languages, including English, Hindi and Gujarati. It will also gradually add popular franchises such as reality show Bigg Boss, along with new original shows featuring Bollywood stars.

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“South Asian audiences have a deep connection with Indian entertainment across languages, generations and households,” Amit Malhotra, head of international business at JioStar, said in a statement.

The updated pricing effective across markets is as follows:

Market	Quarterly	Annual
UK	GBP 19.99	GBP 69.99
Canada	CAD 19.99	CAD 49.99
Singapore	SGD 29.98	SGD 69.98

“Audiences globally are increasingly seeking stories and cultures beyond their own. We see an opportunity to build for this broader, underserved global audience - not simply export an Indian streaming service to new markets.”

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New avenue for growth

The expansion gives JioHotstar a fresh growth opportunity beyond India’s highly competitive streaming market, where it already has more than 500 million active users.

The platform is looking to leverage its wide content offering, including popular cricket and reality shows, along with AI-driven personalisation, to turn its large user base into higher-value subscription revenue from Indian audiences living overseas.

India’s market abroad

India’s diaspora has grown to more than 37 million, supported by decades of labour migration, a rising number of skilled professionals moving overseas and established Indian communities that continue to attract new migrants.

Canada has around 3.2 million people of Indian origin, while the UK has about 1.3 million. Their wider South Asian communities, including people from Pakistan and Bangladesh, are also growing. Singapore has about 483,000 Indians living overseas, according to Indian government data.

Bigg Boss is expected to be one of the key attractions. Over nearly two decades, the show has expanded from a Hindi-language television programme into a six-language franchise with a large streaming following.

Its latest season repeatedly ranked as the country’s most-watched non-fiction show on streaming last year, drawing roughly 8 million viewers a week, according to Ormax Media. The streaming platform is also leaning on familiar Bollywood faces, including Anil Kapoor, who previously hosted Bigg Boss OTT and now fronts a new prime-time game show.

The service is available from September 2. through its mobile app and connected TVs, with quarterly and annual subscription plans. Existing Hotstar subscribers can access JioHotstar using the same accounts, according to the company.

Hollywood content from Disney and HBO Max will not be available on JioHotstar in global markets, as its licensing agreements with the US studios are limited to India.

“As we expand internationally, our ambition is to show what becomes possible when scale, language, cultural diversity, personalisation and deeper audience participation are built into the streaming experience from day one,” Malhotra said.

(With inputs from agencies)