Reliance-backed JioStar grew revenue from operations 10.1% year on year to ₹68.1 billion ($710 million) in the July–September quarter, even as advertising stayed soft. Gross revenue rose 9.8% to ₹79.4 billion ($829 million). The expansion came from subscription income and digital entertainment advertising, but profit after tax fell 13.2% to ₹11.5 billion ($120 million).
Audience scale keeps rising
JioHotstar averaged about 440 million monthly active users over the three months, up 10% from a year earlier. Entertainment watch time grew more than 15%, helped by Hindi and regional titles.
The headline driver was Bigg Boss. The first Bigg Boss Bangla, hosted by former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, launched this quarter, and the franchise rolled out in six languages. The editions together pulled in more than 90 million viewers in their first three weeks, making Bigg Boss the biggest entertainment property on the platform.
- Resort became the most-watched title in the streamer’s history.
- Pritam & Pedro set the platform record for a short-running series.
- Heart Beat Season 3 and new series Court both opened strongly.
- Thukra Ke Mera Pyaar Season 2 improved on its first season.
Margins are the soft spot
EBITDA from operations dropped 10.5% to ₹13.7 billion ($143 million), and the margin narrowed to 22.1% from 28.1% a year earlier. A 36.6% fall in investment income took total EBITDA down 13.6% to ₹15 billion ($157 million). The quarter was also below the April–June period, when revenue from operations was ₹109.5 billion ($1.1 billion).
For media planners, the split matters: audience reach is growing, but it is being bought with content, language expansion and international market costs at a time when advertising is weak.
Product bets start monetising
JioStar is testing new ways to turn usage into revenue. Its Pay Kisi Aur Se feature, which lets a user send a subscription payment request to a friend or relative, lifted payment initiations by 10%. Mobile-plan subscribers now get up to two hours a month of viewing on connected TVs; the average connected-TV viewer watches three times as much as one on a phone.
International relaunches are adding subscribers too. In September, JioHotstar relaunched in the U.K., Canada and Singapore, and active subscribers in those markets have grown about 30% since then.
Sports widens the commerce play
The England–India cricket series gave JioHotstar its biggest audience yet for an overseas bilateral series. Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the opening weeks of the 2026–27 Premier League drew steady audiences and were monetised more effectively, the company said. JioStar also extended commerce integrations, previously limited to cricket, to all three events.
What to watch next
The next test is whether JioStar can hold this scale while repairing margins. With Jio Platforms’ IPO, the largest in India, now listed, the media unit’s quarterly numbers will be read even more closely. The subscription and connected-TV levers are promising; the profit line says the investment phase isn’t over.
Source: Variety
