Reliance Industries’ media and entertainment unit, JioStar, reported a standout first fiscal quarter for FY2025–26, driven by massive digital and television engagement during the Indian Premier League (IPL). The results reflect the company’s expanding dominance across both streaming and linear platforms, underscoring the value of premium cricket rights and homegrown content.
Revenue rose to INR11,222 crore ($1.3 billion), up slightly from the previous period. However, operating performance told the real story. EBITDA jumped nearly 31% to INR1,017 crore ($118.1 million), with margins improving from 8.1% to 10.6%, reflecting operational leverage during high-viewership periods like the IPL.
JioHotstar, Reliance’s flagship streaming platform, averaged more than 460 million monthly active users during the quarter and surpassed 1.04 billion Android downloads. The 2025 IPL drove significant gains, with JioHotstar alone drawing 652 million viewers, up 28 percent year-over-year. Peak concurrency during the IPL final reached 55.2 million, making it the most-watched T20 match ever on digital. Combined with JioStar’s TV reach, IPL 2025 attracted a total of 1.19 billion viewers.
Linear television also saw strong performance. The JioStar network reached over 800 million people and captured 35.5 percent of India’s entertainment viewership. Star Plus led the Hindi-language general entertainment category with six of the top ten shows. Star Utsav became the highest-rated free-to-air channel on DD Free Dish. Regional flagships Star Pravah, Star Jalsha, Star Maa, and Asianet maintained leadership positions in their respective language markets.
Entertainment content outside of cricket delivered results as well. June marked JioHotstar’s highest-ever monthly watch time. The series “Criminal Justice” opened as the most-watched streaming original of 2025, according to Ormax Media, while “Kesari 2” became the year’s top Indian film on the platform. On the international side, “Mufasa: The Lion King” set a new benchmark as the most-viewed global title on JioHotstar to date.
JioStar also continued investing in premium sports content. The company secured exclusive digital rights to India’s ongoing five-Test cricket series against England, building on a portfolio that already includes the ICC World Test Championship Final.
Profit after tax more than doubled to $67.4 million from $26.6 million. Operating revenue reached $1.11 billion, while depreciation and finance costs came in at $36.7 million and $13.7 million, respectively.
Mukesh Ambani summed it up clearly: “Reliance’s media business has emerged as a one-stop platform for entertainment, sports and news content from all over the world.” The numbers from this quarter show that the strategy is gaining serious traction.
The Streaming Wars is intentionally ad-free
We don’t run display ads. Not because we can’t, but because we don’t believe in them.
They interrupt the reading experience. They cheapen the work. And they burn advertisers’ money on impressions nobody actually wants.
So we chose a different model.
We say the things people in this industry are already thinking but don’t say out loud. We connect the dots beyond the headline and focus on explaining why things matter to the people working in this business.
If you believe industry coverage can exist without clutter and interruption, you can support it here → SUPPORT TSW.
Support is optional. But it directly funds research and continued coverage — and helps prove this model can work.
Support TSW →
