At APOS 2025, Garg shared a roadmap to strengthen the economics of streaming in India through targeted investment, innovative revenue models, and long-term scale.
As India鈥檚 media market matures, content creation and financing are emerging as key areas of disruption, with broadcasters and streamers increasingly pushing for a more balanced model in which content producers share both the risk and the reward, marking a shift away from one-sided deals and toward co-investment that is already gaining traction.That was the message from Prateek Garg, Managing Director of Marigold Park Capital, an affiliate of Bodhi Tree Systems, which holds a 7% stake in Reliance and Disney backed JioStar, which runs over 100 TV channels and a streaming platform JioHotstar.Garg said the traditional model, where platforms and broadcasters bear the full financial risk of content that may or may not succeed, is no longer sustainable. 鈥淔or over a decade, the risk of content has been borne by the broadcaster and media players,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time the risk reward equation gets more balanced.鈥滱s Indian platforms aim to serve the next generation of viewers, they are calling on their content partners to move toward a more collaborative model. This means co-investing in content and sharing in its performance outcomes.鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to be the ones taking the burden of somebody else producing and us taking the full risk of that content not working,鈥 Garg said, adding, 鈥淭hat movement has already started. We will accelerate that in the next 20 to 18 months.鈥滾ive EventsHe also said that partners must be willing to share the risk, noting, 鈥淚t won鈥檛 be a free ride.鈥 At present, broadcasters either commission or acquire content from production companies. In the case of commissioned content, production companies receive a fixed margin on production costs, while acquired content offers them the potential for upside depending on performance.Content remains the largest cost driver for broadcasters and streamers, with expenses rising steadily each year. JioStar vice-chairman Uday Shankar recently said the company鈥檚 content investments will reach $10 billion between FY24 and FY26.He added that media companies must keep investing to stay relevant as entertainment options grow and big tech platforms compete for consumers’ time and attention.At APOS 2025, during a session titled Transforming the Media Investment Playbook: Case Studies & Perspectives with Media Partners Asia鈥檚 Vivek Couto, Garg shared a roadmap to strengthen the economics of streaming in India through targeted investment, innovative revenue models, and long-term scale.鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to build a service for just 15 to 20 million viewers in India. It鈥檚 a big market,鈥 Garg said. 鈥淥ur model is: how do we become relevant for the largest part of society? That鈥檚 where the top of the funnel will always remain our biggest priority.鈥滼ioStar’s streaming platform JioHotstar, formed through the merger of Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema, completed platform integration in a record four months. 鈥淲e migrated two apps with different business models into one app, zero consumer loss, zero monetisation loss,鈥 Garg said.The next 12 to 18 months, he said, will focus on innovating the revenue model. 鈥淕lobally, people have been slightly lazy when it comes to business model innovation in streaming. You鈥檒l see a lot of new things from our team.鈥漌hile cricket has been central to user acquisition, Garg said JioStar is now investing in building platform stickiness beyond the sport. 鈥淐ricket is the best aggregator we have. But with the support of cricket, we need to build new muscles so that by the time cricket gets over, we have a platform that isn鈥檛 dependent on it.鈥漈he company is working on content diversification, including micro-dramas, and is building a loyalty programme aimed at daily engagement. 鈥淓very Indian with access to the internet should come to us every day. That鈥檚 the north star we鈥檙e chasing.鈥滸arg emphasised that streaming businesses must be capital intensive to compete at scale. 鈥淭his is not an industry where you can compromise at the top of the funnel,鈥 he said. 鈥淒on鈥檛 run a business as usual model. One of the big tech companies will gobble you up in your own market.鈥滵espite linear television鈥檚 structural decline, Garg believes it still holds value. “The TV universe is declining, but the good part for our business is that we are driving a reallocation of revenues and gaining share from other broadcasters,鈥 he said.JioStar competes with Zee, Sony, Sun TV, Netflix, and Prime Video in both the television and streaming space.Connected TV, meanwhile, is on a steep growth curve. 鈥淔ifty million people watched the IPL on connected TVs. As the shift from linear to connected happens, we鈥檙e best positioned to capture that value.鈥(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
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