JioStar Q1 revenue rises 14 per cent to Rs 10,946 crore as EBITDA jumps 31 per cent

MUMBAI: JioStar delivered one of its strongest quarters since the merger of Reliance and Disney’s India media businesses, reporting double-digit revenue growth, record streaming audiences and a sharp rise in operating profit as subscription revenue, digital advertising and the Indian Premier League (IPL) powered the business.

The media and entertainment company reported revenue from operations of Rs 10,946 crore for the quarter ended 30 June 2026, up 14 per cent from Rs 9,601 crore in the corresponding period last year.

Operating EBITDA grew at more than twice the pace of revenue, rising 30.7 per cent to Rs 933 crore from Rs 714 crore, reflecting stronger operating leverage as the company scaled its subscription and digital advertising businesses.

Profit after tax increased 14.5 per cent to Rs 665 crore, compared with Rs 581 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Gross revenue, which includes investment income and other income, rose 14.1 per cent to Rs 12,799 crore from Rs 11,222 crore.

The company attributed the revenue growth to higher subscription income and strong momentum in digital entertainment advertising.

While the reported EBITDA margin slipped to 9.6 per cent from 10.6 per cent, the decline was largely due to lower investment income rather than weaker operations.

Operating EBITDA represented around 8.5 per cent of revenue from operations, compared with 7.4 per cent a year earlier, translating into an improvement of roughly 110 basis points in the company’s core operating margin.

Total EBITDA increased only 3.1 per cent to Rs 1,049 crore, as investment income fell sharply.

Investment income declined 61.7 per cent to Rs 116 crore from Rs 303 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Finance costs reduced significantly, falling 62.7 per cent to Rs 44 crore from Rs 118 crore, while depreciation increased 7 per cent to Rs 338 crore.

Streaming platform JioHotstar recorded its highest-ever audience during the quarter.

Average monthly active users reached 530 million, up 15 per cent year on year.

Entertainment watch time also increased 16 per cent, suggesting that users continued consuming entertainment content beyond live sports.

The Indian Premier League 2026 remained the company’s biggest audience driver.

According to JioStar, the tournament reached a combined 1.2 billion viewers across television and digital platforms.

Digital alone accounted for 700 million viewers, making it the most-watched T20 tournament ever.

The company also reported that IPL digital reach grew 12 per cent over the previous season.

Regional language viewing during the tournament increased 33 per cent year on year, while Connected TV viewing rose 19 per cent, highlighting the continued migration of premium sports viewing to larger digital screens.

The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 also contributed to growth, recording 155 per cent higher digital viewership than the previous edition, while Connected TV viewing surged 208 per cent. The tournament attracted sponsors from consumer electronics, artificial intelligence and wellness sectors.

Artificial intelligence continued to become a bigger part of the company’s product strategy.

Its conversational content discovery feature, developed in partnership with OpenAI, continued to see higher engagement every month.

JioStar also expanded multilingual voice search across JioHotstar to improve content discovery during live sports and entertainment.

Its short-form content destination Tadka crossed 100 million active users within just two months of launch.

The platform now hosts more than 200 content titles, while daily watch time per user has increased fivefold since launch.

JioStar also introduced its first AI-generated microdrama, Game On: 4,000 Crore Empire, developed using its in-house JAMS platform.

During the IPL, the company deepened its partnership with Swiggy by allowing viewers to order food directly from JioHotstar without leaving the live stream.

JioStar said the integration generated an unprecedented number of food orders, with half of those transactions originating from Tier II cities and smaller towns.

The initiative reflects the company’s broader strategy of combining content, commerce and advertising into a single consumer experience.

Despite the rapid growth of streaming, JioStar continued to dominate linear television.

According to BARC India, the network held a 34 per cent share of television viewership during the quarter, reaching more than 810 million viewers across India.

In Hindi-speaking markets, its pay television share increased to 44 per cent.

Star Plus placed five programmes among the top 10 Hindi general entertainment shows.

Laughter Chefs Season 3 emerged as the country’s leading non-fiction programme during the quarter.

Star Utsav retained leadership in the free-to-air entertainment segment after joining DD FreeDish in April 2025.

Across regional markets, Star Pravah, Star Jalsha, Star Maa, Star Vijay, Asianet and Colors Gujarati maintained the top position in their respective languages.

The company also led the children’s television category with a 47 per cent audience share.

Original programming remained another important growth driver for JioHotstar.

Thukra Ke Mera Pyaar Season 2 recorded 50 per cent higher viewership than its first season.

Inspector Avinash Season 2 grew 65 per cent over its previous season.

Pritam and Pedro became the biggest Hindi special released in 2026.

The live premiere of Dhurandhar: The Revenge generated record engagement, with one in four viewers participating through live chat, memes or trivia.

Additionally, one in five viewers interacted with commerce features during the premiere, highlighting the company’s efforts to turn streaming launches into interactive events.

JioStar said the June quarter demonstrated how technology, premium content and commerce are increasingly working together to improve monetisation.

Artificial intelligence, personalised recommendations, multilingual interfaces, interactive viewing and commerce integrations are becoming key pillars alongside sports and entertainment.

The June quarter also followed a strong FY26, during which Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani disclosed that the group’s media businesses, including JioStar, JioHotstar, Jio Studios and Network18, generated Rs 34,917 crore in annual revenue.

With record streaming audiences, continued television leadership and operating profit growing faster than revenue, JioStar enters the remainder of FY27 with significant momentum. The company’s next challenge will be maintaining that pace once the IPL season concludes by sustaining growth in subscriptions, digital advertising and AI-led engagement across its entertainment portfolio.