BALI: JioStar is no longer content with just broadcasting sport—it’s rewriting the production storybook altogether. Speaking at APOS 2025 in Bali, JioStar head of sports production services & technology Prashant Khanna laid out a bold vision: India as the epicentre of global sports innovation.
“We don’t just see ourselves as broadcasters or production partners,” Khanna said during a high-energy fireside chat. “We’re in the business of helping India create iconic sporting memories.”
Khanna spotlighted JioStar’s end-to-end reimagining of the sports viewing experience—infused with tech, empathy, and staggering interactivity. Think sign-language feeds, descriptive audio for the visually impaired, vertical videos, motion-capture-powered kids’ streams, and multi-cam toggles.
“The modern fan doesn’t want to just watch—they want to co-create,” Khanna stressed. “Millions are producing their own version of the game in real time. That’s the expectation.”
A major catalyst behind this transformation? Starlab, JioStar’s in-house innovation unit that’s quietly building a cloud-native production stack in collaboration with AWS, creators, and start-ups. The result: hyper-personalised, scalable, and immersive experiences beamed across devices in formats fans choose.
Khanna also highlighted JioStar’s deep investment in talent pipelines through its partnership with the Indian Institute of Creative Technologies—a government-led effort to skill the next generation in sports and live production.
“It’s not just about what audiences see today. It’s about who shapes that experience tomorrow,” he said.
Citing the recently concluded 18th season of the IPL as a “turning point,” Khanna revealed the company’s key takeaway: audiences don’t want passive content anymore.
““It’s been an eye-opener every single time, but this year, our biggest learning was how deeply involved the consumer is. They no longer want to passively consume what you’re serving them—they want to be part of shaping how the game unfolds over those 4–5 hours.”
“We saw this play out every day for 2.5 months, through a variety of formats and platforms. Whether it was widescreen or vertical video, Sunday cohort feeds, or kids’ IPs brought to life through motion capture, the engagement was constant. It reinforced that delivering the game in a way fans understand and love is no longer optional-it’s essential,” he said.
With India firmly on the front foot, JioStar’s playbook proves one thing: the future of sport is no longer just played. It’s produced, personalised, and powered by fans.
