JioHotstar Expands Streaming Service to MENA Region
JioHotstar has expanded its international streaming footprint to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, outside of India, the UK, Canada and Singapore. STARZPLAY is now accessible in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Morocco and more regions.
JioHotstar, one of the biggest online streaming services in India, is increasing its presence in the MENA area. The platform has recently expanded internationally, reaching one of the world's biggest and most diverse markets for South Asian viewers. This follows the company's expansion throughout the UK, Canada, and Singapore.
Viewers in a number of MENA nations, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, and Morocco, among others, will have access to content in as many as ten languages upon debut. Some of these languages' variants include Bangla, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi. The website will support six languages and will broadcast movies, popular TV shows, and reality shows from JioStar TV, including Bigg Boss, which is now airing, and Koffee with Karan, which is coming up soon.
JioHotstar’s Partnership with STARZPLAY
A collaboration between JioHotstar and STARZPLAY has allowed the service to debut in the MENA region. Instead of being available as a separate app, JioHotstar will now be accessible as a part of the STARZPLAY app and website. So, if users want to watch JioHotstar, they will have to subscribe to STARZPLAY every month, which includes JioHotstar. According to Amit Malhotra, Head of International Business at JioStar, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is an important target market because it is home to a sizable South Asian diaspora and has a voracious hunger for multilingual entertainment.
Additionally, he mentioned that JioHotstar is able to deliver consumers the full range of JioHotstar content, including original series, daily programming, blockbuster movies, and iconic reality franchises, thanks to its cooperation with STARZPLAY.
Subscription Plans for JioHotstar for MENA Region
According to the news release, STARZPLAY has two plans: Plus, which features the multilingual entertainment library of JioHotstar, and Max, which encompasses all of the sports programming from JioHotstar + STARZPLAY, including cricket. The monthly pricing for the Plus plan is AED 34.99, while the price for the Max plan is AED 49.99. As a result, JioHotstar is bringing Indian entertainment to the MENA region by leveraging STARZPLAY's current audience and platform. On the other hand, this collaboration allows STARZPLAY to enhance its South Asian content offering. As a light and colour display commemorating the collaboration with STARZPLAY, JioHotstar projected its Big Bang onto Dubai's Burj Khalifa to honour the launch.
JioHotstar has over 300,000 hours of content in 19 languages and over 500 million active users each month. More than 18 million people have downloaded the STARZPLAY app, and the channel has 2.3 million subscribers. Hollywood features, Arabic and Turkish originals, live sports (including UFC, cricket, football, rugby, boxing, golf, and basketball), and Arabic and Turkish programming round out the platform's offerings.
