Hotstar unveils exclusive content deal with Disney India for the Premium service
Latest Disney, Disney.Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm movies to be available via SVOD on Hotstar in India
Mumbai, 16 January 2017: This year Disney India has witnessed spectacular success with its Hollywood movies setting benchmarks that reflect the increasing popularity of English movies in the country. Similarly, Hotstar has emerged as a market leader signaling the rise of digital and mobile entertainment platforms. Hotstar has now announced a new studio partnership with Disney India to dramatically augment its Premium service. It has inked a multi-year SVOD deal with Disney India to showcase the studio’s biggest hits exclusively on Hotstar Premium in India which includes movies like Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Disney’s The Jungle Book and Moana, Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange, Disney.Pixar’s Finding Dory amongst others.
In addition, Hotstar premium subscribers will also have access to popular movies and classics from Disney's library including Disney.Pixar’s Ratatouille, Brave, Toy Story 3; Disney’s The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest as well as popular American TV series from ABC Studios such as Castle and Desperate Housewives. Hotstar subscribers will be able to access this content conveniently through Disney, Marvel and ABC Studios branded sections on the homepage of Hotstar.
Ajit Mohan, CEO, Hotstar said, “Over the last 6 months, we have established Premium as an exciting new service for an Indian audience that is interested in international stories. The deal with Disney is in line with our strategy of bringing the best of new shows and movies from around the world to our Premium subscribers. This partnership signals our continuing strategy: we will invest deeply and widely with the best story tellers in the world to ensure that Premium continues as the standout streaming service in the country.”
“Our movies have met with much success in theatres this year. This deal is important for us as it enables us to offer our movies across Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar brands and our ABC Studios' TV shows to our audience wherever they are. Hotstar Premium is an ideal home for our content and it gives subscribers across the country, the chance to revisit their loved stories” said Amrita Pandey, Vice President, Studios, Disney India.
Setting its sights on shaping the connected TV experience in India, Hotstar recently appropriated the top spot on iTunes as Apple TV’s App of the Year for India 2016. The recognition came on the back of a breakthrough year in which Hotstar continued to lead and disrupt the Indian market place. The service now has more than 140 million downloads to date. According to third party tracking provider App Annie, that tracks app usage of video streaming platforms, more than 50 million users used the service in India in the month of December.
About Hotstar:
Hotstar is India’s largest premium streaming platform with close to 100,000 hours of drama and movies in 8 languages, and coverage of every major global sporting event. Launched in early 2015, it has been downloaded by more than 140 million users and has attracted followers on the back of a highly evolved video streaming technology and high attention to quality of experience across devices and platforms. The Hotstar Premium service showcases the best stories from around the world and is available at a monthly subscription fee of Rs. 199.
About Disney Media Distribution (DMD):
Disney Media Distribution distributes more than 30,000 hours of programming in multiple languages to over 1,300 platform partners in 240 territories worldwide. In India, DMD works closely with Indian broadcasters to provide international content which appeals to local audiences.
