JioStar Revenue Up 10% as 'Bigg Boss Bangla' Draws 90 Million Viewers

By Elena Vasquez

JioStar, the Reliance Industries-backed Indian media giant, grew revenue from operations 10.1% year-on-year to INR68.1 billion ($710 million) in the July–September quarter. Profit after tax fell 13.2% to INR11.5 billion ($120 million), the company reported.

The results landed despite a weak advertising market. Reliance credited the top-line growth to subscriptions and to advertising on digital entertainment. Gross revenue rose 9.8% to INR79.4 billion ($829 million).

The quarter's standout launch carried a familiar face. Former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly hosted the first-ever "Bigg Boss Bangla," which premiered this quarter on streaming service JioHotstar.

How big was the 'Bigg Boss' rollout?

The reality franchise rolled out in six languages, and all editions together pulled in more than 90 million viewers in their first three weeks, the company said. That figure makes "Bigg Boss" the biggest entertainment property on the platform.

The Bengali edition hosted by Ganguly marked a first for the franchise's regional expansion. The numbers behind it anchor JioStar's claim to be the country's top entertainment network.

What happened to profitability?

Margins came under pressure. EBITDA from operations dropped 10.5% to INR13.7 billion ($143 million), and the margin fell to 22.1% from 28.1% a year earlier — a six-percentage-point slide.

A 36.6% drop in investment income pulled total EBITDA down 13.6% to INR15 billion ($157 million). The quarter also fell well below April–June, when JioStar booked INR109.5 billion ($1.1 billion) in revenue from operations — roughly INR41 billion more than the current quarter.

In plain terms: revenue grew but the business earned less on every rupee of it.

Who is watching, and where?

JioHotstar averaged about 440 million monthly active users over the three months, up 10% on the prior year. That is roughly one in three Indians.

In September, the platform relaunched under the JioHotstar name in the U.K., Canada and Singapore. Reliance said active subscribers in those three territories have grown about 30% since then.

The company also introduced "Pay Kisi Aur Se" ("Ask Others to Pay"), which lets users send a subscription payment request to a friend or relative. Reliance said the feature raised payment initiations by 10%.

Subscribers on mobile plans now get up to two hours a month of viewing on connected TVs. The economics behind that are straightforward: the average JioHotstar viewer on a connected TV watches three times as much as one on a phone.

Which titles drove the growth?

Watch time for entertainment content grew more than 15%, with Hindi and regional markets performing well. Reliance cited "India Ke Top 1%," "Khatron Ke Khiladi," "Hustle" Season 5 and "Bhojpuri Bawaal" as titles that strengthened JioStar's position.

"Resort" became the most-watched title in the streamer's history, which Reliance cited as evidence that its bet on long-running series is paying off. Rajkumar Hirani's "Pritam & Pedro" set the platform record for a short-running series.

"Heart Beat" Season 3 and new series "Court" both opened strongly, and Hindi drama "Thukra Ke Mera Pyaar" Season 2 improved on its first season. Tadka also grew its catalog, adding nearly 100 titles spanning reality, sports and other categories.

How did sports perform?

The England–India cricket series gave JioHotstar its biggest audience yet for a bilateral series played abroad. Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the opening weeks of the 2026–27 Premier League season drew steady audiences and were monetized more effectively, according to the company.

JioStar also expanded its commerce integrations, which had been limited to cricket, to all three events.

What is the wider Reliance context?

The results came two days after Jio Platforms, Reliance's separate telecom and digital arm, listed on Indian stock exchanges. Reliance said the INR301.9 billion ($3.15 billion) IPO is the largest in India to date.

Mukesh Ambani, Reliance's chairman and managing director, said the issue was subscribed more than 22 times.

The sequencing signals Reliance's intent: JioStar's content engine and Jio Platforms' record listing now sit inside the same corporate narrative. Whether JioStar can rebuild its 28.1% margin while sustaining 15%-plus watch-time growth will define its next quarter.