JioHotstar is taking the partnership route into the Middle East and North Africa. Reliance Industries’ streaming platform — which counts more than 500 million monthly active users in India — has teamed up with STARZPLAY, one of the region’s largest streaming services, to bring its catalogue to MENA audiences. It is JioHotstar’s latest international push after launches in the UK, Canada and Singapore.
Under the partnership, JioHotstar will live as a dedicated destination inside the STARZPLAY app and website, offering films, TV shows, originals and reality franchises across Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Bangla and more. New JioHotstar Originals will premiere in the region at the same time as their India release, with audio in up to 10 languages — and a substantial Malayalam catalogue aimed at the Gulf’s large Malayali community. Flagship titles in the offering include Bigg Boss and Koffee with Karan.
On pricing, JioHotstar rides in through STARZPLAY’s PLUS plan at AED 34.99 a month, while a MAX plan at AED 49.99 a month bundles the full JioHotstar entertainment slate with STARZPLAY’s sports portfolio, including cricket. The timing is telling: with the Gulf routinely drawing big crowds for Bollywood premieres, a dedicated streaming foothold gives Indian studios a direct line to one of the world’s largest Desi diaspora audiences.
