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JioStar taps Premier League fandom with ‘Humara Long Distance Love’ campaign
JioStar launched its ‘Humara Long Distance Love’ campaign featuring Tiger Shroff, Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag to build Premier League fandom in India. All 380 2026/27 season matches will stream exclusively on JioHotstar and Star Sports Network.
The numbers
Figures from ET Small Business,
| Season runs from August 22, 2026 to May 30, | 2027 |
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Also in the report
- Three campaign films
Why it matters for the brand
JioStar’s combined streaming-and-linear Premier League distribution strengthens its case for partnerships spanning telecom, consumer brands, sports merchandising and fan-engagement technology.
What to track next
- JioHotstar announces subscription bundles, mobile-only pricing, telco packs or free-access windows for Premier League coverage.
- Opening-month concurrent-viewer figures, watch time, new-subscriber additions and retention through the first international break.
- Sponsor roster composition and whether retail, D2C, quick commerce and consumer-electronics brands buy integrated streaming-plus-linear packages.
- Regional-language feeds, creator watch-alongs, commerce integrations or real-time ad formats introduced by JioStar.
- Audience concentration around marquee clubs versus sustained viewing of mid-table fixtures.
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- Competing cricket, international football and entertainment programming that could dilute weekend viewing.
Likely next moves
Our read of what comes next — analysis, not reported by the source.
- Retail brands should reserve test-and-learn inventory around the opening weeks, festive season fixtures, Boxing Day matches and title-race weeks rather than commit only to full-season buys.
- Build club-agnostic creative around fandom, watch parties, jerseys, sneakers, delivery bundles and match-night offers to capture casual viewers drawn in by the campaign.
- Use JioHotstar targeting to separate metro premium viewers, college audiences and regional-language viewers, then measure incremental conversion against linear-TV exposure.
- Sportswear, fashion marketplaces and electronics retailers should prepare player-, club- and derby-triggered merchandising plans, while avoiding dependence on unlicensed team marks.
- Quick commerce and food-service brands should align inventory, coupons and late-evening fulfillment capacity with major weekend and prime-match broadcasts.
The counter-case
The case against this reading — not reported by the source.
Celebrity-led films may generate launch-week awareness but do not necessarily convert casual Premier League interest into season-long viewing. India’s football audience is fragmented, match times can be inconvenient, and retention may depend far more on subscription pricing, language feeds, production quality, broadband access and marquee-club performance than on Tiger Shroff or cricket personalities. The campaign could also blur the proposition: cricket celebrities may add reach but lack credibility with core football fans, while mainstream viewers may not see enough reason to choose Premier League over domestic cricket, entertainment or competing digital content.
The source
Published
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