Inside JioStar's bet on bold stories, Gen Z, and the future of Indian entertainment

Mint

3 days ago

Mumbai: In a world of 15-second videos and fractured attention spans, getting an audience to commit to a three-hour film is, in the words of JioStar Entertainment's Alok Jain, 'a big ask.' But rather than chase scale for its own sake, India's newest content powerhouse is betting on something more enduring: bold, emotionally resonant storytelling—and its youngest viewers.
At the Asia Pacific Video Operators Summit (APOS) 2025 in Bali, Jain, who heads entertainment at JioStar, and Krishnan Kutty, the firm's head of cluster, Entertainment (South), laid out a vision for India's next phase of content growth—one that places creators, not platforms, at the centre of a rapidly evolving media ecosystem.
'In a country as creatively diverse as India, it's no longer just about scaling content. It's about resetting the creative ecosystem,' Jain said during a fireside chat with Media Partners Asia's Vivek Couto. 'Our role is not to act as gatekeepers but as collaborators.'
And bold, in JioStar's vocabulary, doesn't mean flashy sets or big budgets. It means challenging societal norms, amplifying underrepresented voices, and telling stories that resonate deeply across India's varied but emotionally unified audience.
As Kutty put it, 'We're not in California. Our job is to take the audience along with us, even as we challenge convention.'
The executives emphasized that today's creators aren't bound by traditional formats or distribution mediums. From short-form video to long-form streaming dramas, from social-first storytelling to network television, creators are increasingly moving seamlessly across platforms. JioStar, they said, is working to build structures that support this creative mobility.
'We're building mechanisms that allow creators to evolve with their voice and cross over across mediums,' Jain noted.
Backed by the heft of Reliance's media infrastructure, JioStar boasts a massive distribution footprint—over 800 million viewers on television and another 400 million streaming users on JioHotstar. That reach is now being aligned with a strategy that emphasizes flexibility, emotional depth, and regional storytelling.
According to Kutty, India's digital video landscape now comprises between 500–600 million users, each consuming four to five hours of content daily. That diversity, he added, is not a constraint—but a creative edge.
'Every state, every region is a source of new perspectives and storytelling potential,' he said. 'A small state like Kerala, for example, creates stories that travel across the country—80% of Malayalam content consumption on our platform comes from outside the state.'
JioStar's model is rooted in the belief that while formats, languages, and geographies may differ, emotional resonance binds Indian audiences. Jain pointed to Thukra Ke Mera Pyaar, a 19-episode digital drama featuring a debut director and cast, as a recent breakout success.
'It worked because the story worked. We must go back to first principles—not just to innovate in stories but also in formats,' he said, adding that the company is exploring micro-dramas, non-fiction formats, and other experimental structures.
Kutty noted that bold storytelling today means addressing social complexity within the Indian context—not relying on spectacle. He cited a recent show featuring a flawed, short-tempered protagonist grappling with post-Covid identity issues. The series has since climbed to the top of the platform's charts and is being adapted in multiple Indian languages.
Looking ahead, JioStar is placing a deliberate bet on India's youth. While acknowledging that MTV has led the way in Gen Z programming in recent years, Kutty said the broader industry has failed to cater to this cohort adequately.
'For the South, we are committed to increasing our Gen Z programming volume by 7 to 10 times,' he said.
Jain agreed, but added that chasing youth audiences must also be economically viable.
'If the industry is to run sustainably, we must drive innovation profitably—and focusing on youth is central to that.'
The executives were candid about the broader economic challenges facing India's content industry. Streaming, Kutty said, is locked in a 'broken model.'
'We've escalated prices and seen production costs spike, but consumer demand hasn't kept pace. Producers have become B2B players—serving platforms, not viewers. That disconnect needs to be addressed.'
Jain expressed similar concerns about theatrical content.
'People won't go to theatres unless the content is exceptional. Watching a film is a three-hour commitment in an era of 15-second entertainment. That's a big ask,' he said. 'Theatres need to evolve—through pricing, experience, and value delivery.'
Despite structural headwinds, both executives remained optimistic about the long-term outlook for Indian content. With a young population, 22 official languages, and what Jain called an 'openness to change,' India remains a high-potential market for both domestic and global media players.
'Authentic storytelling, powered by local emotion but built to scale—that's what we believe will carry Indian content forward,' said Jain. 'And we have barely scratched the surface.'