Hotstar is not having a good time in the market. Once it was the sports streaming capital of the nation and now it is just losing every sport it had. Previously it lost its biggest sports streaming asset IPL to JioCinema and now it is the time for the Indian Super League.
Almost a month ago, Hotstar started to remove all ISL content available on the platform. Multiple media outlets informed that Viacom 18 is set to take the broadcasting rights of the ISL over.
From the inauguration of the tournament, Star Network had the streaming rights and had a ten-year deal. As the deal is ending soon, Viacom 18 will gain the rights from the 2023-24 season.
After Reliance started to focus on their streaming platform, they have been the ‘Mecca’ of sports. It all started with the World Cup 2022 and the platform never looked back.
JioCinema also acquired the rights to MotoGP, the fans found their new destination to stream sports.
Now, JioCinema uses a free model when it comes to sports streaming, generating revenue from advertisement slots. Free streaming will obviously attract more viewers in comparison to Hotstar but the user experience becomes highly questionable.
Fans will not demand a motoGP-like experience where they were shown multiple advertisements while the race was going on. In football, an undisturbed experience can be expected but the platform has the tendency to crash at vital moments.
Will they be able to handle it in a proper way, only time will tell. Till then, fans got a new sports capital now.
