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Record-breaking

Hotstar Breaks Records with 59 Million Concurrent Viewers for World Cup Final, Surpassing Previous Milestone

Disney’s Hotstar achieves a groundbreaking milestone with 59 million concurrent viewers during a highly anticipated World Cup final cricket match in India. This surpasses the previous record of 53 million viewers set just a week earlier. With no significant cricket events in the near future, Hotstar is poised to maintain this record for at least six months. The platform now holds a substantial lead in concurrent viewership over its competitor, JioCinema, which peaked at 32 million earlier this year. This achievement occurs against the backdrop of Disney facing challenges in the Indian market, including a decline in digital subscribers. Disney CEO Bob Iger expressed a commitment to the Indian market but acknowledged the need to evaluate options. Preliminary talks with potential partners, including Reliance and private equity firms, have taken place. However, the dynamics of Star India have evolved, with market conditions prompting a shift in focus to core businesses. Hotstar’s subscriber base has experienced a decline of more than 23 million in the past year, according to Disney. The platform faces competition, notably from Viacom18’s JioCinema, led by Mukesh Ambani, who has attracted top executives from Star India and invested $3 billion to stream the IPL cricket tournament for five years. Despite these challenges, Disney had high expectations for the ICC Cricket World Cup, projecting over 50 million concurrent viewers and aiming to reach 82% of India’s total annual video users during the 50-day series.

Box Office Set to Break Records in 2023, Aiming to Cross ₹12,000 Crore Mark

Box-office collections in 2023 are on track to exceed ₹12,000 crore, according to the latest report from Ormax Media. The total box-office earnings for the first nine months of this year have reached ₹8,798 crore, marking a 6% increase over the same period in 2022. This year is anticipated to become the highest-grossing ever, with the potential to cross the ₹12,000-crore milestone, primarily due to the upcoming releases of movies like Tiger 3, Salaar, and Dunki. In 2022, the gross box-office collection amounted to ₹10,637 crore, as reported in a previous joint study by GroupM-Ormax Media. Shah Rukh Khan’s film “Jawan” emerged as the most successful movie of the year, raking in ₹733 crore, followed by “Pathaan” with ₹646 crore. “Gadar 2” was the only other film to surpass ₹500 crore, with earnings of ₹614 crore. Additionally, “Jailer” and “Adipurush” managed to collect ₹397 crore and ₹331 crore, respectively. Box office success continued in 2023, with movies released in September generating ₹13.53 crore, marking the fourth month this year to surpass the ₹1,000-crore mark. The month of August witnessed the highest box office collections, with earnings totalling ₹1,610 crore. Notably, gross box-office collections for January and June reached ₹1,388 crore and ₹1,073 crore, respectively.