In a monumental surge largely fueled by the recently concluded Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, Jiohotstar has announced that its overall subscriber base has touched 300 million, bringing it within striking distance of global streaming giant Netflix’s last reported figure of 301.63 million subscribers. This remarkable growth marks a significant shift in India’s competitive OTT landscape.
The domestic streaming platform, which came into being in February 2025 with the merger of Reliance-led JioCinema and Disney+Hotstar, has seen an explosive increase in its user base. From just 50 million subscribers in February, Jiohotstar’s numbers raced to 280 million by May, coinciding with the start of the IPL, and now stands at 300 million as of June 2025.
The IPL 2025 played a pivotal role in this subscriber addition, with its digital viewership reaching a record 652 million, surpassing television viewership (537 million) for the first time. The overall reach of IPL across digital and TV mediums for JioStar (Jiohotstar’s parent company) stood at an impressive 1.19 billion, demonstrating the massive audience engagement it garnered.
Sanjog Gupta, the Chief Executive for Sports and Live Experiences for JioStar, highlighted that the high viewership also translated into substantial revenues, making IPL 2025 the “most monetised edition of the event and also the most monetised sporting event ever in India across advertising and subscription revenue.” JioStar reportedly closed the IPL 2025 season with advertising revenue of nearly ₹5,000 crore.
On the digital front, Jiohotstar recorded 1.04 billion Android app downloads, with mobile viewership reaching 417 million and connected TV viewership at 235 million. The peak concurrency, representing the maximum number of simultaneous viewers, touched an unprecedented 55.2 million on digital platforms. Language-specific viewership trends also showed significant growth, with Telugu IPL viewers increasing by 87%, followed by Kannada (65%) and Tamil (52%).
Netflix, which had 301.6 million subscribers across 190 countries as of end-December 2024, has seen its global growth continue, but Jiohotstar’s rapid ascent driven by its strategic content acquisition (especially major sporting events like IPL) and aggressive pricing in the Indian market positions it as a formidable competitor. This development underscores the unique dynamics of the Indian streaming market, where large-scale free or freemium content, particularly sports, can rapidly drive user acquisition.
Key Highlights:
- Jiohotstar has reached 300 million subscribers, nearing Netflix’s last reported global subscriber count of 301.63 million.
- This rapid growth, from 50 million subscribers in February 2025, is primarily attributed to the recently concluded Tata IPL 2025, which saw digital viewership surpass TV for the first time.
- IPL 2025 on Jiohotstar achieved record digital reach (652 million viewers) and peak concurrency (55.2 million), also becoming the most monetized IPL edition with significant advertising revenue.
- The surge highlights the effectiveness of leveraging major sporting events and a strong mobile-first strategy to rapidly acquire users in the Indian streaming market.