On October 14, a Saturday, Disney Hotstar set a world record: it saw the highest number of simultaneous viewers tune in for any format of cricket ever. The ICC World Cup match between India and Pakistan was streaming and it drew in 35 million viewers.
A week later, on Sunday, it broke that record too with the India-New Zealand match when 43 million viewers tuned in. The timing of this couldn't be better for the OTT giant which lost 21 million subscribers since last year when it lost the rights to IPL. Ever since Disney Hotstar executives in India were on a mission to prove to their California headquarters that its OTT business in India could be turned around.
But just a day later after hitting 43 million viewers, on October 23, Bloomberg reported Walt Disney may sell a controlling stake in the Disney Star business to Reliance Industries. While nothing about the deal is final yet, it does make one wonder about the timing of it all.
What is in this deal for Reliance and more importantly is it enough for Disney to hold on to Hotstar for now?
Tune in to find out.
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