JioStar, the media joint venture between Reliance’s Viacom18 and Disney India, plans to invest over ₹84,000 crore (around $10 billion) in content development between FY24 and FY26. This was revealed by Uday Shankar, the company’s vice chairman, during the WAVES 2025 summit. The company spent ₹25,000 crore in FY24, increased it to ₹30,000 crore in FY25, and projects a further rise to ₹32,000–₹33,000 crore in FY26.
Strategy Rooted in Local Relevance
Shankar emphasized that JioStar’s content investment is entirely designed for Indian audiences. He underscored the importance of creating locally relevant stories rather than adopting foreign formats. The goal is to strengthen India’s storytelling ecosystem and cater to the unique cultural and regional diversity of the country.
Need for Monetisation Innovation
According to Shankar, the Indian media sector has seen limited innovation in its revenue models, still relying mostly on advertising and subscriptions. He believes this stagnation has prevented Indian companies from achieving global-level valuations seen by platforms like Netflix or Tencent.
Untapped Potential in Smaller Cities
Shankar highlighted the advertising potential in tier-III and tier-IV cities, which remain underexplored. He stressed the importance of involving smaller regional businesses in the advertising market to help them scale and build brands. By doing so, he believes the Indian ad market could double in value within five years.
Global Market Comparison
Vivek Couto of Media Partners Asia pointed out that India’s media sector is currently valued at $30 billion, far behind the U.S. at $200 billion and China at $75 billion. The data reflects the scope for expansion and the need for structural changes in the Indian media industry.
