Streaming overtakes television in India’s content investment, MPA says
Online video accounted for 46% of India’s 2025 content investment, ahead of TV’s 42%. JioHotstar led premium VOD viewing with a 58% share and more than 180 million paying subscribers, underscoring the scale of India’s digital-media shift.
What happened
Streaming overtook television in India’s 2025 content investment, led by rising premium VOD and local-film demand. JioHotstar held 58% of premium VOD viewing
Key facts
- Online video represented 46% of India's content investment in 2025 versus television's 42%
- India contributed about US$5 billion in video content investment in 2025
- Indian users streamed 420 billion hours of online video in 2025
- JioHotstar held a 58% premium VOD viewing share and had over 180 million paying subscribers
- JioHotstar connected-TV reach rose 26% during IPL 2026
- India box office reached US$1.41 billion
- Seven-market video investment was US$14.8 billion in 2025, forecast at US$15.4 billion by 2031
Why this matters
Prioritize partnerships, distribution deals, and targeted acquisitions around premium streaming inventory, creator ecosystems, and commerce-enabled video as India’s media investment center shifts online.
What to watch
- JioHotstar ad-tier penetration, monthly active users, ad load and pricing relative to television GRPs.
- Availability and advertiser adoption of closed-loop measurement linking streaming exposures to commerce transactions.
- Rights outcomes for cricket and other major live sports, which can rapidly shift premium video audience concentration.
- Growth in connected-TV households versus mobile-only streaming consumption.
- Regional-language content investment and whether streaming materially expands beyond metro audiences.
- TV ad-rate trends, broadcaster consolidation and signs of accelerated non-sports inventory weakness.
- Regulatory developments affecting audience data, targeted advertising, telecom-media bundling or streaming content rules.
- Move a defined portion of TV test budgets into streaming video pilots, prioritizing categories with measurable digital or omnichannel conversion.
- Build creative specifically for mobile-first and connected-TV viewing rather than repurposing 30-second television assets.
- Negotiate JioHotstar packages that combine premium video inventory, regional-language reach, sports tentpoles, first-party audience segments and conversion measurement.
- Develop shoppable-video and QR-led campaigns that connect entertainment exposure to marketplace storefronts, retail offers and loyalty enrollment.
- Rebalance media planning by cohort: use streaming to reach urban, younger and affluent digital audiences while retaining TV for broad rural and event-led reach.
- Strengthen incrementality measurement across streaming, social video, search, retail media and in-store sales to prevent duplicate-reach inflation.