JioCinema, a popular Indian over-the-top (OTT) platform owned by Reliance, is set to begin charging subscribers for its content following the conclusion of IPL 2023. This move is aimed at competing with other OTT giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
JioCinema made headlines for its live streaming of IPL 2023 matches at no cost to its customers. However, the company plans to expand its offerings beyond cricket broadcasts and compete with major players in the Indian market. As part of this expansion, JioCinema is said to be adding over 100 movies and TV series to its platform.
The pricing structure for JioCinema’s paid plans has not yet been determined, but the company hopes that this move will support its revenue and further establish its position in the highly competitive Indian streaming industry.
Jyoti Deshpande, President of the media and content business of the company, stated that JioCinema aims to remain as “Indian as possible” and wants to be a “catalyst for cross-pollination of talent.” She added that the company intends to keep tariffs simple for viewers.
The current OTT market is dominated by “Westernized content,” according to Deshpande. JioCinema aims to close the gap by offering more localized content and becoming a platform that promotes Indian talent.
In addition to its plans to charge for OTT content, Jio introduced cricket plans with 3GB of data per day, additional data add-on packs, and special vouchers during IPL 2023. The Cricket Extra packs were introduced to help clients who wanted to continue live-streaming IPL matches without worrying about running out of data. The add-on packs provide extra data on top of the base plan, allowing viewers to support their data needs related to cricket streaming.
In conclusion, JioCinema’s move to charge for its content may be a major shift in the Indian streaming industry. It remains to be seen how viewers will react to the new pricing structure and whether JioCinema can effectively compete with other major players in the market. However, Jio’s commitment to promoting Indian talent and keeping tariffs simple for viewers is certainly a positive step forward.
