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Tag: APOS 2025

  • APOS 2025: Sushant Sreeram and JioHotstar’s masterclass on reinvention

    APOS 2025: Sushant Sreeram and JioHotstar’s masterclass on reinvention

    BALI: JioStar’s Sushant Sreeram came out swinging at APOS 2025, tearing up the traditional streaming script with a bold case for fluid monetisation and empathy-first design. Speaking on a high-voltage panel alongside Aditya Swamy of Google Play and Sutanto Hartono of Emtek, the SVOD chief and CMO laid out JioHotstar’s roadmap for a new era of video engagement.

    “We’re not locked into SVOD or AVOD silos,” Sreeram said. “Serving over 500 million monthly users and nearly 300 million subscribers demands a far more flexible approach to how people watch — and pay.”

    His argument was clear: India’s economic layers defy cookie-cutter pricing. “The top 10 per cent of Indian households have parity with the UK or Germany on a PPP basis. But the next 10 per cent? A whole different world. That’s where true innovation begins.”

    Sreeram credited much of JioHotstar’s traction to product-led thinking, citing the latest IPL season as a masterclass in fan experience. “Viewership surged 40 per cent on opening weekend in year 18. That’s not fatigue — that’s reinvention,” he said, referencing multi-cam feeds, VR features, and deep localisation as core drivers.

    AI and machine learning are now hardwired into the platform. “From predictive personalisation to real-time language adaptation, we’re not chasing attention — we’re courting emotion,” he added.

    His parting shot? “You don’t build for India — you build from India. That means designing with agility, pricing with precision, and listening like your survival depends on it. Because it does.”

  • APOS 2025: JioStar reboots Indian storytelling: bold themes, small-town creators, and a Gen Z gold rush

    APOS 2025: JioStar reboots Indian storytelling: bold themes, small-town creators, and a Gen Z gold rush

    Bali: India’s entertainment juggernaut JioStar is rewriting the playbook for streaming success. Speaking  on Day one with MPA founder & executive director Vivek Couto at the Asia Pacific Video Operators Summit (APOS) in Bali, president, general entertainment Alok Jain and head of cluster – entertainment (south) Krishnan Kutty laid out a turbocharged strategy rooted in youth, cultural authenticity, and fearless innovation.

    Kutty didn’t mince words. “Streamers haven’t done enough for Gen Z,” he said, announcing plans to ramp up youth programming in the south by seven to ten times. “Today’s boldness isn’t about spectacle — it’s about challenging societal norms. But we’re not in California. This has to be rooted in India.”

    Jain backed it up with numbers and narrative. Thukra Ke Mera Pyaar, a 19-episode romantic drama with 50-minute episodes and a debut director, shattered expectations. “The audience embraced it because it felt fresh, not because of familiar faces,” he said. “Innovation isn’t just a tactic — it’s our baseline.”

    The pair’s APOS session, titled Inside the next wave of Indian storytelling, was a no-holds-barred manifesto for resetting the country’s content economy. “We’re not here to gatekeep,” said Jain. “Today’s creators are format-agnostic — moving from Instagram Reels to primetime drama to long-form docu. We want to build a creative ecosystem where they grow across mediums.”

    Kutty spotlighted small-town storytellers as the engine of this shift. “We’re backing young creators from Tirunelveli to Kochi who bring lived-in authenticity. Eighty per cent of our Malayalam content consumption comes from outside Kerala. Great stories transcend language and geography — that’s our sweet spot.”

    The duo also called out industry dysfunction. “Streaming has broken the economic model,” Kutty said. 
    “Producers have become B2B vendors serving platforms, not audiences. Talent and production costs have soared. We need a reset.”

    On the theatrical front, Jain was blunt. “Three-hour films don’t cut it in an age of 15-second videos. People only show up at cinemas for something really worth their time. Theatres need to reinvent — on price, experience, everything.”

    India’s scale, youth and appetite for change were central to JioStar’s bullish outlook. With over 300M subscribers on JioHotstar and 800M viewers across its TV network, JioStar sits atop 320,000  hours of content in 22 languages. “The only common thread?” said Jain. “Emotional truth. That’s what travels.”

    From microdramas to macro themes like justice and aspiration, the message from JioStar is clear: in a country bursting with creators, languages, and formats, the only limit is imagination.