IPL powers JioStar to ₹10,946 crore quarterly revenue as Q1 revenue rises 14%

JioStar, the media and entertainment arm of Reliance Industries, reported a strong start to FY27, with operating revenue rising 14% year-on-year to ₹10,946 crore in the June quarter, driven by robust subscription growth, higher digital advertising revenue and record audience engagement during the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The company reported operating EBITDA of ₹933 crore, up 31% from a year ago, reflecting operating leverage despite a challenging advertising environment. Profit before tax rose 14% to ₹667 crore during the quarter. Total EBITDA stood at ₹1,049 crore, although EBITDA margin moderated to 9.6% from 10.6% a year earlier due to lower investment income.

The performance marks one of JioStar's strongest quarters since the integration of Reliance and Disney's India media assets, underscoring the company's strategy of combining premium sports, entertainment and technology to expand scale while improving monetisation.

Digital scale reaches new highs

JioStar's flagship streaming platform JioHotstar recorded an average of 530 million monthly active users (MAUs) during the quarter, representing 15% year-on-year growth. The IPL continued to serve as the platform's largest acquisition engine, helping it reach nearly 700 million users during the tournament—up 12% over the previous edition.

The company said sustained engagement across both sports and entertainment helped push platform usage to record levels, making the June quarter its strongest in terms of audience scale.

Unlike previous years, JioStar is increasingly positioning itself not merely as a streaming service but as a broader entertainment ecosystem where sports acts as the entry point before users migrate to movies, originals and television content.

AI and micro-content become key engagement levers

A notable feature of the quarter was JioStar's growing reliance on artificial intelligence to improve user discovery and content consumption.

The company said its AI-powered conversational discovery feature gained significant traction among users, improving engagement across the platform.

Meanwhile, Tadka, JioHotstar's short-form content destination launched barely two months ago, crossed 100 million active users across more than 200 content titles, highlighting the company's ambitions in the fast-growing micro-content category.

JioStar also released its first in-house AI-created micro-drama, Game On! The 4000 Cr Empire, signalling that generative AI could increasingly become part of its content creation strategy.

The initiatives reflect a broader shift among streaming platforms towards reducing content discovery friction while simultaneously increasing user retention through snackable formats.

IPL remains the biggest growth engine

Cricket once again emerged as the company's biggest audience acquisition and engagement driver.

According to JioStar, IPL 2026 became the largest cricket event in history, registering 7% higher overall reach across television and digital compared with IPL 2025.

Connected TV (CTV) viewing continued to witness strong momentum, growing 19% year-on-year during IPL, underlining the migration of premium sports viewing towards large-screen digital consumption.

Women's cricket also delivered substantial gains. Digital viewership for the Women's T20 World Cup grew 155% over the previous edition, while Connected TV viewership more than tripled, increasing 208%.

The company said the IPL continues to function as its primary customer acquisition funnel, enabling it to onboard new users before expanding their engagement across entertainment programming.

Entertainment portfolio sustains momentum beyond cricket

Beyond sports, JioStar said its entertainment business continued to deliver healthy engagement across originals, acquired content and television franchises.

The Hindi film Dhurandhar 2 became the most-watched movie ever on JioHotstar, while comedy franchise Laughter Chefs, available in multiple Indian languages, witnessed strong growth compared with previous seasons.

Among originals, Pritam and Pedro emerged as the biggest Hindi special opening of 2026.

Overall digital entertainment watch time increased 16% year-on-year, while the company maintained a 34% share of India's linear television market.

Advertising revenues across television and digital entertainment also increased, helped by stronger digital monetisation and rising Connected TV consumption, partially offsetting continued weakness in the broader television advertising market.

Revenue growth comes despite advertising headwinds

JioStar's financial performance was achieved despite a difficult macroeconomic backdrop.

The company said the industry continued to be affected by the ban on real-money gaming advertisements as well as broader market uncertainty arising from geopolitical developments, including the US-Iran conflict.

Traditional linear television also remains in transition as advertisers increasingly shift budgets towards digital platforms.

However, rapid growth in digital subscriptions, stronger entertainment advertising and increasing monetisation on Connected TVs more than compensated for these pressures.

The resulting operating leverage helped EBITDA from operations grow more than twice as fast as revenue during the quarter.

Building a technology-first media company

The June quarter demonstrates how JioStar is evolving beyond the conventional broadcaster model.

The company is simultaneously investing in artificial intelligence, personalised content discovery, short-form video, commerce integration and premium sports to create multiple monetisation opportunities beyond advertising.

One example cited by the company was its IPL partnership with Swiggy, which converted live viewers into transacting customers, validating content-commerce as an emerging revenue opportunity.

As India's largest digital entertainment platform continues to scale, JioStar appears increasingly focused on improving user engagement, increasing subscription revenue and unlocking higher advertising yields through technology-led personalisation rather than relying solely on expanding audience reach.

With IPL continuing to attract hundreds of millions of viewers and entertainment engagement remaining strong across languages and formats, JioStar enters the rest of FY27 with significant momentum as it seeks to strengthen its leadership in India's rapidly evolving streaming and media landscape.