Reliance unveils JioStar’s voice assistant ‘RIYA’ to simplify content discovery

Reliance Industries used its Annual General Meeting (AGM) 2025 to showcase the future of JioStar, the joint venture between Reliance and Disney that is fast emerging as a major force in India’s entertainment landscape. Positioned as a one-stop destination for premium entertainment and sports, JioStar was presented as a platform built to serve India’s vast and diverse audience at an unprecedented scale.

Disney CEO Bob Iger called India a cornerstone of the company’s global ambitions, pointing to the market’s size, diversity, and deep-rooted love for storytelling. “India is one of the most important and exciting markets for Disney globally. Its scale, diversity, and deep love for storytelling present enormous opportunities. And through JioStar, we are delivering the very best in entertainment and sports, reaching audiences at an unprecedented scale,” Iger said.

The AGM also saw the unveiling of RIYA, JioStar’s new voice-enabled search assistant, designed to simplify content discovery. Announcing the feature, Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani said, “Finding what to watch in a world of thousands of hours of content can feel overwhelming. That is why we have built RIYA—your new voice-enabled search assistant that makes discovering content effortless.”

RIYA is tailored to the way Indian audiences speak and think, supporting natural voice queries across years, seasons, and episodes. Ambani emphasized that the feature eliminates the need for endless scrolling, allowing viewers to simply ask for content and have it instantly curated.

With these announcements, Reliance signalled its determination to strengthen JioStar’s competitive edge in India’s crowded streaming and broadcast ecosystem. The partnership leverages Reliance’s reach and technology infrastructure with Disney’s content library and sports rights, creating what could become the country’s most comprehensive entertainment platform.

As Reliance expands its media and digital footprint, JioStar is being positioned as a central pillar of the group’s growth strategy, while for Disney, it reaffirms India’s role as one of its most important international markets.