JioHotstar to invest ₹4,000 crore in South India-focused content

JioHotstar, the video-streaming platform formed by merging Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema, aims to invest ₹4,000 crore in South India-focused content and the creator ecosystem over the next five years, with 1,500 hours of new programming scheduled for release within the next 12 months.

The titles include the reality show Bigg Boss in all four southern languages, as well as originals such as Kerala Crime Files, The Good Wife, Lucky The Superstar, Comedy Cooks, among others.

“Our slate cuts across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada. This year, nearly 75% of all South (Indian) originals greenlit in the industry have chosen JioHotstar. We are currently collaborating with more than 500 writers, directors and showrunners, and many of these projects will begin rolling out through 2025,” said Krishnan Kutty, head-entertainment business, South cluster, JioHotstar.

The southern region has emerged as one of JioHotstar’s strongest growth engines, outperforming the rest of India in subscription depth, retention, and connected TV adoption, said Sushant Sreeram, chief marketing officer and head-SVoD (subscription video-on-demand), JioHotstar.

“Since the launch, the South entertainment has achieved an exceptional 99.96% pincode presence across India. There is also a shift towards large-screen viewing, particularly in South, with close to 45% watching JioHotstar on connected TVs, making it one of the country’s earliest and fastest-growing CTV-first markets,” Sreeram added.

Pointing to strong engagement for South Indian content, Sreeram said this programming is being discovered nationwide, with more than 80% of Malayalam watch time on JioHotstar now coming from outside Kerala.

“Smaller-town audiences in the South have emerged as one of our most engaged user groups. They spend nearly 70% more time on JioHotstar compared to the rest of India, driven by strong curiosity, selectivity, and genre exploration. Also, the audience in South India watches 21% more genres than the rest of India.”

The rise of the regional

India’s over-the-top content audiences are no longer bingeing just in Hindi. Regional originals, from Tamil thrillers to Malayalam crime sagas, are steadily climbing the charts, drawing millions of viewers.

The mid-year list of the top 50 originals, published by media consulting firm Ormax, underscores the trend, with Tamil fiction series Suzhal-The Vortex season 2 (8.3 million), Office (5.4 million), and Heart Beat (7 million), Malayalam fiction series Kerala Crime Files season 2 (6.9 million), Tamil film Test (6.5 million), and Telugu fiction series Devika & Danny (5.2 million) featuring among the most-watched titles.

Several factors are fuelling this shift, according to experts. Platforms are gradually investing in high-quality regional originals, while Gen Z and millennials, especially after the pandemic, are showing a growing desire to connect with their roots. Importantly, audiences are now willing to embrace good-quality content regardless of the language.

“Post the pandemic, viewing habits have changed to become more inclusive and varied. Multilingual content, be it regional or from foreign shores, is engaging audiences like never before. People in rural belts and tier-two and three cities have additionally driven the demand for vernacular content," said film producer Anand Pandit.