Disney’s shift in strategy, which some analysts say is “desperate,” comes as the rivalry with JioCinema flares up.
Walt Disney Co’s Hotstar offers free streaming of cricket tournaments in India on mobile devices, a move that follows rival JioCinema’s recent success in attracting millions of viewers with a similar strategy in the cricket-mad country.
Hotstar said on Friday that it would offer the Asia Cup and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup tournaments to users for free. Disney once offered cricket for free on its platform, but since 2020 requires users to subscribe to a paid plan.
Disney previously held digital rights to the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the world’s most lucrative annual sports venues. But JioCinema, run by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Viacom18, spent $2.9 billion to get those rights and then rolled it out for free on the streaming platform.
The free offering will reach more than 540 million smartphone users, Disney said on Friday, adding that it aimed to make the contests “accessible to as many mobile users in India as possible.”
However, the cricket matches are still paid when viewed on TV or through the website.
Disney’s strategy shift comes as the rivalry with JioCinema flares up. Before the IPL competitions concluded in May, Disney used ads to promote viewing of the games on TVs, for which it had rights, while JioCinema responded with ads to entice users to its free web streaming and mobile offerings.
While JioCinema has started charging users for premium content, including for the recent Hollywood content deal it struck with Warner Bros. and NBCUniversal, the executives have said IPL streaming will continue to be offered for free.
The viewer battle rages on in the world’s most populous nation, where cricket is the most popular game and most of digital consumption is driven by smartphones with an estimated 700 million users.
Research firm CLSA estimates that Disney Hotstar’s subscriber base in India has shrunk by nearly five million users after it lost the digital rights to IPL.
Elara Capital analyst Karan Taurani labeled Disney’s move a “desperate” effort to amass lost users, but warned that free cricket – whether by JioCinema or Disney – sends a negative signal to the industry.
“If continued in the longer term, free cricket offers could increase losses for streaming platforms or lead to consolidation as many platforms may not be able to survive on lower revenue per user,” he said.
The streaming industry in India has been growing rapidly with Netflix and Amazon Prime being the main players.
Media Partners Asia says Disney+ Hotstar is leading the market as of the end of March despite the subscriber slump due to the loss of IPL rights, accounting for more than 40 percent of the total user base in India.