In a smart business move to regain its subscribers, Disney+ Hotstar announced that it will stream the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 and the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup for free on its mobile app. To recall, JioCinema started offering free streaming of major cricket tournaments on its mobile app. The Asia Cup 2023 will be held in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from August 30 to September 17, while the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup will be held in India from October 5 to November 15. Both tournaments are expected to be major draws for cricket fans around the world.
Disney+ Hotstar’s userbase has witnessed a steady drop. According to Reuters, Disney+ Hotstar had the largest user base last year. However, starting from March 2022, the user count began to decline, resulting in a hefty $41.5 million loss for the company. The user base dropped by about 25 per cent between October and July of the same year, pressuring the company to seek ways to become profitable again.Initially, Disney+ Hotstar assumed that Indians would continue subscribing for their premium content, but this didn't materialize. Subscribers cancelled their subscriptions when cricket matches were not available. Faced with this scenario, Disney+ Hotstar has decided to take the route of streaming live cricket matches for free.
One of the primary reasons behind the downfall of Disney+ Hotstar was the exodus of HBO shows. The popular shows like Game of Thrones, Succession, and the upcoming Harry Potter series, which were earlier streamed on Disney’s OTT platform, went to JioCinema. Reliance Jio signed an agreement with Warner Bros Discovery to bring popular Hollywood content to its streaming platform, JioCinema.This partnership between Reliance's Viacom18 and Warner Bros allowed HBO content as well as Warner Bros shows to be available on JioCinema.
