Disney’s new over the top (OTT) streaming service Disney+ will be officially launched in India on March 29. The service will be started in partnership with Star India-owned streaming platform Hotstar, the company's chief executive officer Bob Iger said on Tuesday.
Disney+ was launched in the US last November and was expected to make its debut in India in the second half of 2020. Disney owns Star India because of which Hotstar also falls under the entertainment conglomerate's portfolio. Disney acquired Star India when it took over 21st Century last March for $71.3 billion. Reports say that the VIP tier of Hotstar’s platform will be renamed to Disney+Hotstar.
According to Iger, Disney+ has 26.5 million paid subscribers worldwide. The company is expected to give stiff competition to other OTT players, especially Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Hotstar already has a tie-up with HBO and streams the channel's shows on its platform. The Disney+ association will further raise the platform’s content library in India.
Currently, Hotstar offers a free tier, along with paid subscriptions to stream sports. The Hotstar VIP tier allows access to more content. The company is said to be the biggest player in India in the OTT space, buoyed by its sports streaming deals.
Global companies have eyed India’s streaming space as a lucrative market. Netflix, which is the world’s largest streaming service, reported a 700% growth in India last November, posting revenues of ₹466.7 crore in FY2019 and net profit of ₹5.1 crore. The company has spent millions on producing original content for India and has also introduced a new mobile-only payment tier for subscribers here.
As of last April, Hotstar had 300 million total subscribers in India. The company has not commented on the Disney+ announcement yet.
