In a remarkable partnership heralded as a new dawn for Indian entertainment, billionaire Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), enthusiastically welcomed Disney into the Reliance family. This announcement was made during the company’s annual general meeting, following the Indian Competition Commission’s approval of the $8.5 billion merger between RIL and The Walt Disney Company in India.
“This historic collaboration with Disney marks the start of an unprecedented era in India’s entertainment sector,” Ambani declared. He outlined an ambitious strategy to merge content creation with digital streaming, aiming to provide top-tier content at accessible prices to a diverse audience. “We are thrilled about this partnership and the significant growth it heralds for our media business,” he added.
The merger underscores Reliance’s achievements across its media and entertainment divisions, boasting over $1.2 billion in revenue—a 49% surge. Viacom18, RIL’s entertainment arm, saw an impressive 62% growth. Moreover, JioCinema’s milestones were notable, with the Indian Premier League cricket tournament drawing 620 million viewers this year, making it the most-watched livestream event globally. JioCinema’s subscription service welcomed 15 million new subscribers in its first 100 days.
Ambani also highlighted the dominance of the company’s television networks, with Colors becoming the leading Hindi-language channel and the news networks remaining viewer favorites. RIL’s digital platforms flourished as well, with Moneycontrol attracting 70 million unique visitors and Firstpost recording 127 million video views in July.
A significant focus of Ambani’s presentation was on AI. The “Jio AI Everywhere For Everyone” initiative aims to establish a national AI infrastructure with data centers to ensure the lowest AI inference costs worldwide. Introducing “Jio Brain,” a suite of AI tools, Reliance plans to offer 100 GB of free cloud storage to Jio users to support AI services, starting this November during the Diwali festival.
The entertainment industry is poised for a revolution, and you can be part of the conversation. Share your thoughts in the comments below and let us know what you think about this exciting new chapter for Disney and Reliance.
Source: Naman Ramachandran
