The Peacock Hub partners with JioHotstar for Koffee With Karan’s final season

MUMBAI: One last cup, one global partner. The Peacock Hub has joined hands with JioHotstar for the ninth and final season of Koffee With Karan, marking the first Indian collaboration between NBCUniversal and JioStar to support a locally produced show. Hosted by Karan Johar, the season premieres on 14 October 2026 on The Peacock Hub on JioHotstar.

The partnership marks a shift in The Peacock Hub’s India strategy, taking the NBCUniversal-backed platform beyond acquiring and distributing international content to supporting homegrown intellectual property. The collaboration also brings a global studio into the final chapter of one of India’s most recognisable celebrity chat shows.

NBCUniversal and JioHotstar, formerly JioCinema, launched The Peacock Hub in India in 2023. Since then, the service has built a library of international entertainment featuring Peacock Originals such as All Her Fault, PONIES, The Copenhagen Test and The Five Star Weekend, alongside titles from Universal Studio Group, DreamWorks Animation, Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Sky and Bravo.

Until now, its presence in India has centred on content distribution and acquisition. The Koffee With Karan collaboration represents its first move into supporting an Indian-produced original, signalling a broader interest in locally created entertainment properties.

“This is a significant moment in how we see the future of Indian IP,” said JioStar head of Hindi and English entertainment business (streaming, TV and studios) Alok Jain.

Jain said the partnership reflected the belief that Indian intellectual property, developed with the right ambition, could compete and collaborate on a global stage. He added that JioStar aimed to co-create formats with the potential to travel across markets and be developed, shaped and celebrated internationally.

For Johar, the collaboration adds a global dimension to a show built around candid celebrity conversations, personal revelations and the occasional controversy.

“I started this show wanting nothing more than coffee, honest conversation, and a little indiscretion with people I love. That instinct hasn’t changed in twenty years. What has changed is who’s paying attention,” said host Karan Johar.

He described The Peacock Hub’s decision to collaborate on the final season as humbling, adding that the show belonged as much to its viewers as to the celebrities on its famous couch.

NBCUniversal also sees the partnership as an opportunity to expand its engagement with Indian programming.

“We’re delighted to partner with JioHotstar on Koffee With Karan, one of India’s most celebrated entertainment properties, for its landmark final season,” said NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution and International Networks & DTC managing director for APAC Chris Taylor.

Taylor said the collaboration expanded The Peacock Hub’s offering beyond its established portfolio of US and UK film and television content into locally produced programming. He cited the show’s distinctive format and perspective on the entertainment industry as reasons for choosing it for the platform’s first such partnership in India.

The choice of Koffee With Karan reflects the show’s established place in Indian popular culture. Its celebrity interviews regularly generate entertainment headlines, while clips and conversations from its episodes circulate across social media, extending their reach beyond the original broadcast.

Rather than adapting an international format for Indian audiences, the partnership backs a show developed around Indian celebrities, Hindi film culture and the country’s entertainment industry. The move points to a model in which global platforms can support locally created properties that already command substantial domestic attention.

For JioStar, the collaboration provides another opportunity to position Indian entertainment as intellectual property with international potential. For NBCUniversal, it offers a way to participate in India’s content creation ecosystem while building on The Peacock Hub’s existing catalogue of global programming.

Season 9 introduces a refreshed format and a guest line-up that has already generated interest ahead of its premiere. The season also marks the conclusion of a long-running television franchise, bringing the curtain down on a show that has remained a fixture of celebrity culture for more than two decades.

As Koffee With Karan prepares to serve its final cup, its partnership with The Peacock Hub gives the farewell a wider significance: the end of the show’s run becomes the starting point for a new chapter in global-local content collaboration.