JioHotstar, the Indian streaming giant owned by Reliance Industries, is expanding its footprint into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by partnering with Starzplay, a leading regional streaming service. This strategy marks a shift from its approach in the U.K., Canada, and Singapore where it launched as a standalone platform. In the MENA region, JioHotstar will be integrated as a dedicated section within Starzplay’s app and website, providing users access to a broad catalog of Indian films, original series, TV shows, and reality programs in multiple languages.

This partnership leverages the sizable South Asian diaspora in MENA to reach its target audience, offering content in languages including Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Bangla. Notably, JioHotstar plans to simultaneously premiere new originals alongside their Indian releases, with significant emphasis on Malayalam content to cater to the large Malayali community in the region. Sports programming, a key part of JioHotstar’s Indian offering, will not be directly available; however, joint subscription bundles with Starzplay’s cricket and sports content are offered at competitive pricing starting at AED 34.99 to AED 49.99 per month.

JioHotstar was formed following the 2024 merger between Reliance’s JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar as part of an $8.5 billion joint venture, rapidly scaling to over 500 million monthly active users in India. Before this, the Hotstar brand was accessible in MENA under Disney Star’s distribution deals, including collaborations with evision, a major shareholder in Starzplay. The new partnership with Starzplay, which boasts over 2.3 million subscribers and a strong South Asian viewer base, represents JioHotstar’s first dedicated presence in the region.

Starzplay CEO Maaz Sheikh termed this collaboration a “strategic investment” for expanding JioHotstar's global reach beyond India. Though financial details were not disclosed, this alliance aligns with Reliance’s ambition to transform JioHotstar into a global streaming powerhouse by tapping into niche regional markets with tailored content offerings, leveraging existing platforms rather than launching standalone services in every market.