JioStar Earnings: Revenue Rises 10% Despite Profit Drop

JioStar reported a 10.1% increase in quarterly revenue, reaching 68.1 billion rupees, or 710 million dollars, for the period ending in September.

The Indian media company, which is backed by Reliance Industries, saw this growth despite a challenging advertising market. Total gross revenue climbed 9.8% to 79.4 billion rupees, or 829 million dollars. However, the bottom line took a hit, with profit after tax falling 13.2% to 11.5 billion rupees, or 120 million dollars. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization dropped 10.5% to 13.7 billion rupees, or 143 million dollars. The company’s operating margin slid to 22.1%, down from 28.1% in the same quarter last year. A 36.6% decrease in investment income further reduced total EBITDA by 13.6% to 15 billion rupees, or 157 million dollars. These figures marked a sharp contrast to the April to June quarter, when JioStar recorded 109.5 billion rupees, or 1.1 billion dollars, in operating revenue.

The revenue increase was driven by subscription growth and digital advertising. JioHotstar, the company’s streaming platform, averaged 440 million monthly active users over the three-month period, a 10% rise compared to the prior year. The platform relaunched in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Singapore in September. Reliance stated that active subscribers in these three regions have increased by approximately 30% since the relaunch.

New initiatives aimed at improving user engagement also contributed to the results. The company introduced a feature called “Pay Kisi Aur Se,” which allows users to send payment requests to others. Reliance reported that this tool increased payment initiations by 10%. Additionally, subscribers on mobile plans now receive up to two hours of monthly viewing on connected televisions. The company noted that the average viewer on a connected TV watches three times as much content as one on a mobile phone.

Entertainment content saw a 15% increase in watch time, with strong performance in Hindi and regional markets. The reality show “Bigg Boss” became the largest entertainment property on the platform after launching in six languages. The first edition in Bengali, hosted by former cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, was part of a rollout that attracted more than 90 million viewers in its first three weeks. Other top performers included “Resort,” which became the most-watched title in the platform’s history, and Rajkumar Hirani’s “Pritam & Pedro,” which set a record for short-running series.

Sports programming also delivered record audiences. The cricket series between England and India provided the largest audience for a bilateral series played abroad on JioHotstar. The platform also aired Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and the start of the 2026-27 Premier League season. The company expanded its commerce integrations to these events after previously limiting them to cricket coverage.

These earnings arrived two days after Jio Platforms, Reliance’s separate telecom and digital unit, listed on Indian stock exchanges. The 301.9 billion rupee, or 3.15 billion dollar, initial public offering is the largest in India to date. Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance, stated that the issue was subscribed to more than 22 times.