iWorld
APOS 2025: Sushant Sreeram and JioHotstar’s masterclass on reinvention
BALI: JioStar’s Sushant Sreeram came out swinging at APOS 2025, tearing up the traditional streaming script with a bold case for fluid monetisation and empathy-first design. Speaking on a high-voltage panel alongside Aditya Swamy of Google Play and Sutanto Hartono of Emtek, the SVOD chief and CMO laid out JioHotstar’s roadmap for a new era of video engagement.
“We’re not locked into SVOD or AVOD silos,” Sreeram said. “Serving over 500 million monthly users and nearly 300 million subscribers demands a far more flexible approach to how people watch — and pay.”
His argument was clear: India’s economic layers defy cookie-cutter pricing. “The top 10 per cent of Indian households have parity with the UK or Germany on a PPP basis. But the next 10 per cent? A whole different world. That’s where true innovation begins.”
Sreeram credited much of JioHotstar’s traction to product-led thinking, citing the latest IPL season as a masterclass in fan experience. “Viewership surged 40 per cent on opening weekend in year 18. That’s not fatigue — that’s reinvention,” he said, referencing multi-cam feeds, VR features, and deep localisation as core drivers.
AI and machine learning are now hardwired into the platform. “From predictive personalisation to real-time language adaptation, we’re not chasing attention — we’re courting emotion,” he added.
His parting shot? “You don’t build for India — you build from India. That means designing with agility, pricing with precision, and listening like your survival depends on it. Because it does.”
iWorld
Talk to your telly: JioHotstar’s new AI voice feature reads your mood to suggest shows
The streaming giant ditches the scroll for a “conversational” AI that understands moods, cricket and Hinglish
MUMBAI: The era of the endless scroll may finally be over. JioHotstar has officially flicked the switch on its “Conversational Voice Discovery” (CVD) feature, a high-tech overhaul designed to turn the hunt for a Friday night film into a natural chat. Developed in a landmark partnership with OpenAI, the tool moves beyond clunky keyword searches, allowing users to find content by describing their mood, context or even the most bizarre viewing scenarios.
The feature is vision of Uday Shankar, vice chairman of JioStar, whose goal is to eliminate “content overload” by replacing the tedious, traditional scroll with natural dialogue. By leveraging ChatGPT’s ability to grasp context and cultural nuance, the new mobile interface allows users to bypass menus entirely, turning search into a seamless conversation.
The launch, which rolled out across India this month, sees a ChatGPT-powered interface integrated directly into the heart of the app. Instead of typing “action movie” into a sterile search bar, viewers can now speak to their devices as if they were asking a well-read friend for a tip. For now, the feature is exclusive to the mobile app, with a rollout for Connected TV (CTV) expected in later phases.
Beyond the keyword
The CVD feature is built on what JioStar calls “Multilingual Cognitive Search.” It is designed to interpret nuance rather than just matching text. If you tell the app, “I’ve had a long day, give me something mindless and funny,” it won’t just look for those words in a title; it will sift through 300,000 hours of library content to find a light-hearted sitcom or a stand-up special that fits the vibe.
The tech is natively multilingual, catering to India’s diverse linguistic landscape. Users can switch effortlessly between languages—asking for “Koi light-hearted comedy dikhao” (show me some light-hearted comedy) or requesting a “Thriller hai but zyada dark nahi chahiye” (a thriller that isn’t too dark).
Real-time curiosity and live sports
Perhaps the most ambitious aspect of the rollout is its integration with live sports. During a high-stakes cricket match, the AI acts as a digital companion. Fans can ask, “Who is the top scorer right now?” or “Show me that last wicket again,” and the system will pull the relevant data or clips instantly. It even attempts to explain the “why” behind the crowd’s energy, responding to prompts like, “Why is everyone reacting like that?” by contextualizing on-field events.
A shift in streaming strategy
The move is part of a broader reimagining of the entertainment experience following the massive merger between JioCinema and Disney+ Hotstar. Uday Shankar noted that the goal is to make premium entertainment “truly accessible” by embedding AI at the core of the user journey. By anticipating culture and context, the platform hopes to kill off “decision fatigue.”
For OpenAI, the partnership represents a major play in the Indian market. Fidji Simo, the head of applications at OpenAI, said the goal was to turn a “one-way” passive consumption experience into a “deeply personal conversation.”
As the feature goes live for millions of subscribers, the message from Bombay House is clear: the remote control is becoming obsolete. Whether you’re looking for a show that “feels like a rainy Sunday afternoon” or a crime series with a “strong female lead but not too violent,” all you have to do is ask.
