WHY IT MAY NOT BE A CAKEWALK FOR JIOSTAR: A SMART CONTENT STRATEGY COULD ENABLE SONY AND ZEE TO GIVE THE MERGED GIANT A TOUGH FIGHT DESPITE BEING PUSHED TO THE FRINGE.

JioStar, which owns 120 channels and two streaming platforms, will control 60% of the Indian media and entertainment market.

- AJITA SHASHIDHAR

FOLLOWING THE ₹70,532-CRORE merger, the Reliance and Disney-Star joint venture has undoubtedly become the big daddy of the Indian media industry, with a 60% market share. Does that mean the likes of Sony Entertainment Television (SET) and ZEE Entertainment will become mere fringe players and eventually fade out?

Not necessarily.

With prized cricket properties such as IPL, BCCI and ICC in its kitty, Reliance-Disney will surely have an upper hand, but its battle for eyeballs on the back of high-quality original content will continue. Ask any Gen-Z consumer or, for that matter, any average TV or OTT watcher about the merger, it would hardly matter to them. They will continue to go to SET to watch KBC, to Netflix for The Kapil Sharma Show and to JioStar for IPL. In fact, at a time when appointment viewing is passe, consumers don’t mind waiting for a few days to watch their favourite OTT or TV show for free.

For the ₹2.3-lakh-crore Indian media and entertainment industry, content will continue to be king. Whosoever gets their content strategy right would emerge winners, say media and entertainment industry stalwarts. The much-talked-about merger has come at a time when not only ad dollars in linear television have been plateauing, OTT platforms have also been focusing on driving profitability over subscriber growth. Content acquisition prices are known to have dropped 15-20% and broadcasters and OTT platforms are seen chasing only high-quality marquee content. This makes the analyst community wonder if the Reliance-Disney merger will drastically move the needle unless they focus on a major content revamp.

“Reliance-Disney do have an advantage, but how much they are able to turn the needle would depend on how they innovate, bring in fresh content and how much they are able to compete with the likes of Facebook and YouTube,” points out a leading media industry executive.