JioHotstar sets sights on South storytelling with Rs 4,000-crore investment

As JioHotstar completes 10 months of redefining premium entertainment, the platform is now setting its sights on a bigger canvas: the future of South storytelling. At a media showcase unveiling the next phase of its ambition, where South entertainment takes center stage and infinite possibilities come to life, JioHotstar outlined a deliberate shift toward the future of South storytelling.

Led by Sushant Sreeram, Head – SVOD Business & Chief Marketing Officer, JioStar, and Krishnan Kutty, Head - Entertainment Business, South Cluster, JioStar, the platform announced a landmark aim to invest ₹4,000 crore in building the country’s most powerful South-focused content and creator ecosystem.

This scale of investment signals not just growth, but a long-term belief that South narratives will drive India’s next entertainment surge. As part of this vision, JioHotstar is gearing up for an aggressive expansion of its slate, with 1,500 hours of fresh South programming set to roll out over the next 12 months, strengthening its position as the home of the region’s most ambitious stories.

Opening the showcase, Sushant Sreeram took a moment to set the context for where the platform stands today. He highlighted JioHotstar’s 400 million strong and sustained user base, and its position as the country’s only streaming destination with more than 3 lakh hours of entertainment. He also reflected on the platform’s extraordinary reach, noting that JioHotstar now serves audiences across 100 percent of India’s pincodes and has built the country’s largest Connected TV universe with more than 85 million devices. 40% of South content consumption happens on Connected TVs, with the rest on mobile.

Elaborating on the South industry’s meteoric rise as India’s new creative powerhouse, Krishnan Kutty emphasised that the South doesn’t follow trends — it creates them. From pan-India blockbusters to pioneering new formats, he noted that South stories today reverberate across the country. 25% of Hindi viewers now watch South content.

He further emphasized to say how South consumers are digital first, highly discerning and increasingly exploratory; they are widening the genres they engage with and pushing creators to tell bolder, more diverse and culturally rooted stories.

Further delving into the South’s performance on the platform, Sushant Sreeram highlighted how the region has rapidly emerged as one of JioHotstar’s strongest growth engines, outperforming the rest of India in subscription depth, retention and Connected TV adoption. Since launch, the South entertainment has achieved an exceptional 99.96% pincode presence across India. There is also shift towards large-screen viewing, particularly in South, with close to 45% watching JioHotstar on Connected TVs — making it one of the country’s earliest and fastest-growing CTV-first markets.

The evening was also graced by the Deputy Chief Minister Thiru Udhayanidhi Stalin, Member of Parliament Padma Bhushan Thiru. Kamal Haasan, Minister of Tamil Development, Information and Publicity Thiru M.P Saminathan, and some of the icons from across the South film and TV industries.

JioHotstar also announced signing a Letter of Intent with the Government of Tamil Nadu. As part of this, JioHotstar will play a pivotal role in strengthening Tamil Nadu’s creative economy introducing regional-first formats, new age stories and storytellers scaling their work beyond geographical boundaries. JioHotstar will also introduce creator-focused initiatives such as writing labs, mentorship programs and skill-building workshops aimed at nurturing the next generation of filmmakers, writers, editors and digital storytellers.

Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin unveiled JioHotstar’s South lineup of 25 new titles. He stated, “I am delighted to launch this partnership with JioHotstar. Chennai's tradition and passion for art and culture are ages old, and even Telugu and Malayalam films are made here. Art is a powerful force in politics and life; art can liberate, and movies can educate. We have a history of stories causing social changes, with figures like Annadurai and Karunanidhi instrumental in revolutionary changes in Tamil cinema. The contribution of South India has created a new benchmark for Indian cinema. Content is the King, and we have a long way to go. We recognize that OTT is not replacing cinema; it is expanding it. Today, everyone has a voice—a filmmaker in Madurai or Salem can upload a story and reach an audience across the world. The partnership with JioHotstar will have a massive impact: it will create 1,000 direct jobs and 15,000 indirect jobs. Our government is committed to building a strong economy hand-in-hand with cinema.”

Framing the vision, Sushant Sreeram, said: “JioHotstar started as a dream. To build the entertainment future of tomorrow, one that’s rooted in the rich storytelling heritage of our great country and its many facets, powered by cutting-edge technology, and serve as the default destination for Indian entertainment everywhere. We are thrilled with the progress we have made in less than a year across live sports and entertainment, establishing JioHotstar as the clear choice for all India. The resplendent story-telling heritage of South India and its sheer impact on India’s storytelling culture motivates us to keep championing rich, authentic and rooted narratives while delivering greater variety, accessibility and viewing experiences tailored to every viewer’s tastes and dreams.”

Adding to the vision for the South’s creative future, Krishnan Kutty, said: “The South has always been a creative powerhouse, and it is a privilege to serve a region that is defining the next era of Indian storytelling. The stories born here are bold, the creators are fearless and the audiences are among the most invested than anywhere in the country. Our commitment is to fuel this ecosystem with meaningful, long-term investments in talent, infrastructure and new storytelling formats. In just the last ten months, over 500 creators, directors and showrunners have joined us each bringing a voice that deserves to be heard across India and beyond. We want every creator in the South to dream bigger, build faster and take their stories further than ever before. South Unbound is our promise to elevate this region’s creative force and ensure these stories travel as far as they deserve.”

Member of Parliament Padma Bhushan Thiru. Kamal Haasan added, “Today, stories are truly screen-agnostic. They travel with the viewer. The audience has become the platform. And when that happens, the relationship between the medium and the message changes forever. Stories do not belong to any screen; they always travel with the listener and belong to people. Screens simply follow them. It is this tectonic shift that makes JioHotstar's initiative so consequential foy Tamil Nadu - not only for its ambition, but for the architecture of opportunity it unlocks. In this new world, every Tamil creator, producer, and storyteller can reach every Indian, on every screen, every day. Today, regional is becoming the new national, and ethnic the new international. Stories born in Madurai, Malappuram, Mandya or Machilipatnam are no longer "regional cinema" - they are national cultural events.”

The session outlined key transformative drivers that define the shifting landscape of South entertainment, each underscored by compelling insights and breakout milestones. A clear trend is reshaping the South ecosystem; its stories are travelling far beyond their core audiences and influencing national viewing behaviour. This shift was highlighted through the way titles now move across regions as over 80% of Malayalam watch time is driven by viewers outside Kerala. In addition to that, shows such as Heartbeat emerging as the biggest ever with over 100 million hours of watch time this year and Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra and Mirai becoming the platform’s most-watched movies this year, and movies like Thudarum, Tourist Family also getting record-breaking viewership.

The presentation highlighted how South content is increasingly being discovered and celebrated nationwide. For instance, Bigg Boss (South) viewership, alone, commands a scale larger than the entire viewership of the next closest streaming platform. South consumers also know what they want and dive deeply into the content they love. They spend nearly 70% more time on JioHotstar compared to the rest of India, showing the exceptional stickiness and loyalty that South audiences bring to the platform. Their curiosity, selectivity and appetite for diverse storytelling make them not just viewers, but trendsetters shaping the platform’s creative direction.

To serve this demand, in just the last 10 months, JioHotstar has collaborated with over 500 writers, directors and showrunners, with almost 75% of this year’s South originals choosing JioHotstar as their home. The platform is also engaging deeply with the Government of Tamil Nadu to help strengthen the creative ecosystem; from supporting creative labs to enabling internships and participating in state-driven programs.

Looking ahead, JioHotstar’s investment will focus on scripted content, with non-scripted formats showing large growth potential, and movies expected to be a key driver.

During the showcase, it was also revealed that revenue growth on the platform has been consistent with audience growth. Advertiser growth has risen 40–50% on the platform, with three-fourths of revenue coming from prior/repeat clients. Local brands from the South have become the biggest source of advertising growth, significantly contributing to overall platform growth.

With sustained investments, strategic partnerships and a commitment to empowering creators, JioHotstar is capturing the pulse of South audiences and shaping the stories that define India’s entertainment future.

The slate showcases one of the most diverse content portfolios in the region spanning originals, franchises, movies and unscripted formats. The lineup includes the return of blockbuster franchises like Kerala Crime Files S3, Save The Tigers S3, Heartbeat S3 and Good Wife S2. Alongside these popular IPs, JioHotstar has announced a robust slate of new originals and long-format shows such as Cousins And Kalyanams, Moodu Lantharlu, LBW – Love Beyond Wicket, Resort, Secret Stories: ROSLIN, Lingam, and Vikram On Duty.

Expanding its premium originals catalogue, JioHotstar also introduces the regional adaptation of the Hindi series Aarya titled Vishakha, as well as bold new productions like Kaattaan starring Vijay Sethupathi and Pharma featuring Nivin Pauly. The offering is further strengthened by new movies such as Lucky The Superstar and Kenatha Kaanom.

While JioHotstar continues to dominate India’s unscripted landscape, powered by the unmatched success of the Bigg Boss universe across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, the slate marks the next leap expanding the reality portfolio with culturally rooted, high-energy formats such as Comedy Cooks, Mad for Each Other and Second Love delivering experiences that resonate deeply with southern audiences. For the first time, Roadies will debut in Telugu.

JioHotstar’s content library unites the region’s finest talent under one roof – from superstars Kamal Haasan, Mohanlal, Nagarjuna, Dhanush, Vijay Sethupathi, Sivakarthikeyan and more; celebrated actors including Nivin Pauly, Aishwarya Rajesh, Kajal Aggarwal, Meena, Priyamani, Kajal Aggarwal, Nayanthara, Samantha, Nithya Menen, Nandamuri Balakrishna, Aju Varghese, Lal, Neena Gupta and others; to emerging artists such as Deepa Balu, Anumol, Charukesh, Kavin, Arjun Radhakrishnan, Guru Lakshman and Smeha Manimegalai.

The ecosystem further spans directors like Jeethu Joseph, Ahammed Khabeer, amongst others; and leading production houses such as Banijay Group, Vikatan, DQ Productions, Aashirvad Cinemas, ARKA Media, Naavi Productions; many of whom were present at the event.