Disney+ Hotstar is an Indian subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by The Walt Disney Company India and operated by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment business segment of The Walt Disney Company, featuring domestic Indian film, television and sports content for India itself and its worldwide diaspora. It also includes imported content and serves Southeast Asia as well.
The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Disney Star’s local networks, including films, television series, live sports, and original programming, as well as featuring content licensed from third-parties such as Showtime among others. Amid the significant growth of mobile broadband in India, Hotstar quickly became the dominant streaming service in the country.
Official Customer Care & Support Information
| Registered Address | Novi Digital Entertainment Private Limited Urmi Estate, Ganapatrao Kadam Marg, Railway Colony, Lower Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400013 |
| Customer Care Number | (833) 212-2120 |
| WhatsApp support Number | 8104803351 |
| Email ID | [email protected] |
| Website | https://www.hotstar.com/in/home |
| For Help | https://help.hotstar.com/in/en/support/home |
| Download App | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=in.startv.hotstar.dplus |
Hotstar History
Star India officially launched Hotstar on 11 February 2015 after fifteen months of development, coinciding with the 2015 Cricket World Cup and the upcoming 2015 Indian Premier League (for which Star had acquired the streaming rights). The ad-supported service initially featured a library of over 35,000 hours of content in seven regional languages, as well as live streaming coverage of sports such as football and kabaddi, and cricket on a delay. Star CEO Sanjay Gupta felt that there “[weren’t] many platforms available to Indian consumers offering high-quality, curated content besides, say, YouTube”, and explained that the service would appeal most prominently to the growing young adult demographic, and feature “very targeted” advertising. He estimated that by 2020, the service could account for nearly a quarter of Star’s annual revenue.
Hotstar generated at least 345 million views throughout the 2015 Cricket World Cup, and approximately over 200 million views during the 2015 Indian Premier League season. In April 2016, Hotstar launched a subscription tier primarily oriented towards international content and the possibility of premium sports content. The service launched alongside a new deal to carry HBO content uncut on the platform, with its introduction coinciding with the season 6 premiere of Game of Thrones.
The 2016 launch of the LTE-only wireless carrier Jio spurred the growth of mobile broadband in India, and was credited in turn for having bolstered the growth of streaming video in the country. While services of US origin such as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix saw some growth in the Indian market, Hotstar remained the dominant streaming service. By July 2017, Hotstar’s apps had reached 300 million downloads, and it was reported as being the top video streaming app in the country.
In May 2018, it was reported that the service had 75–100 million active users per-month. In September 2018, Hotstar CEO Ajit Mohan left to become the vice-president and managing director of Facebook India. That same month, it was reported that the service had begun to restructure its leadership to have separate executives for its ad-supported and premium services, and, aided by new funding from Star US Holdings, planned to increase its production of premium original content to better-compete with Amazon and Netflix, amidst concerns that the service was beginning to haemorrhage cash.
By 2019, the service had over 150 million active users monthly. In March 2019, ahead of the 2019 Indian Premier League, Hotstar migrated existing subscribers of its All Annual Sports plan to a new entry-level plan known as Hotstar VIP. Intended as an introductory option, it includes access to sports content (including the IPL, 2019 Cricket World Cup, and Premier League football), early access to serials before their television broadcast, and original series from the new Hotstar Specials banner. It is also payable via cash. Chief product officer Varun Narang described the offering as “a value proposition built with the Indian audience at the heart of it”.
The 2019 Indian Premier League repeatedly broke records for concurrent viewership on Hotstar, with the 2019 final setting a new “global record” peak of 18.6 million. US website TechCrunch credited these gains to the extensive growth of internet usage in the country. This was surpassed during the semi-final of the 2019 Cricket World Cup between India and New Zealand, with 25.3 million. After the India-Pakistan match earlier in the tournament, Hotstar surpassed almost 100 million daily users.
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