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India's largest media company, JioStar is looking beyond scale. The next phase, executives say, will be defined by artificial intelligence, interactive viewing and commerce embedded directly into entertainment. Speaking at Reliance Industries' annual shareholder meeting on Friday, Akash Ambani, managing director of Jio Platforms, outlined a vision of a media business that increasingly resembles a technology platform — one where content, shopping and artificial intelligence converge inside a single ecosystem.
The strategy follows a year of formidable growth. In its first full year after the merger, Reliance's media businesses — spanning JioStar, Jio Studios and Network18 — reported revenue of Rs 34,917 crore and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of Rs 5,842 crore. Net profit totaled Rs 3,434 crore.
The company now reaches hundreds of millions of consumers through television, streaming, sports and news, making it one of the most influential media networks in the country.
Also read: Reliance's media and entertainment business clocks Rs 3,434 crore profit in FY26
On television, JioStar retained its dominance, commanding a 34.7 percent audience share and reaching 389 million viewers each day across languages and genres. But the center of gravity is increasingly shifting online.
JioHotstar, the company's streaming platform, averaged 451 million monthly active users during the fiscal year, a scale that places it among the world's largest streaming services. The platform also became the first paid Indian streaming app to surpass one billion downloads and is now available on nearly every connected television in the country.
Sports remain a crucial engine of that growth. During India's victorious T20 World Cup campaign, JioHotstar recorded 72.5 million concurrent viewers, a figure the company said set a global record for live streaming. Ambani noted that nine of the ten highest live-streaming concurrency records worldwide are now held by JioHotstar. The latest edition of the Indian Premier League attracted more than 700 million viewers on the platform.
Read more: "India must become a creator, adopter, and global leader in AI": Mukesh Ambani at Reliance AGM 2026
The company's ambitions, however, extend beyond audience size.
JioStar used the annual meeting to introduce JioStar GenAI Media Studio, or JAMS, an artificial-intelligence-powered production platform designed to automate portions of the creative process, including ideation, storytelling, image generation, audio creation and video production.
The initiative reflects a broader shift underway across the media industry, where companies are increasingly exploring how generative A.I. can lower production costs, speed content creation and personalize consumer experiences.
Some of those tools are already reaching viewers. JioHotstar has introduced conversational search powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT technology, enabling content discovery in Indian languages and regional accents. Another feature, called AI Snapshot, generates personalized summaries of live and on-demand programming, offering viewers a quick recap of key moments.
The company is also experimenting with a model that has become increasingly attractive to streaming platforms worldwide: turning entertainment into a storefront.
JioStar unveiled what it described as India's first integrated marketplace within a streaming service, allowing viewers to purchase products without leaving the video experience. The company previously tested the concept during IPL broadcasts through a partnership with Swiggy that enabled food ordering directly from live cricket streams.
Also read: "India's time has truly come": Nita Ambani outlines Reliance Foundation's vision at RIL AGM 2026
The effort reflects a growing belief among media companies that advertising alone may not be sufficient to support long-term growth, particularly as audiences spend more time in digital environments where transactions can occur instantly.
Interactivity is another pillar of the company's strategy. Features including live polls, chat functions and meme creation tools have attracted more than 100 million users and generated over 11 billion interactions, according to company figures. Upcoming products include a multiview feature that will allow users to watch several streams simultaneously, combining sports, entertainment and news on a single screen.
Elsewhere in the media portfolio, Jio Studios continued to strengthen its position in filmed entertainment. Ambani said the Dhurandhar franchise had generated more than Rs 3,000 crore in worldwide box-office collections, making it the first Indian film duology in which both installments crossed the Rs 1,000 crore mark individually.
The performance helped Jio Studios remain the highest-grossing Hindi film studio for a third consecutive year.
For Reliance, the message was clear: scale may have won the streaming wars, but the next battle will be fought through technology, commerce and new forms of audience engagement.
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