Abstract

The case “Hotstar: Winning the Indian Streaming War?” talks about the factors that drove Hotstar to become India’s largest premium streaming platform. The case starts out with the reasons that prompted India’s leading satellite network STAR India Private Limited (STAR) to launch Hotstar. It then describes the measures taken by Hotstar to increase its subscriber base. Hotstar, which already offered the vast content of STAR, chose sports, especially cricket, as its key differentiator and offered exclusive coverage of key cricket matches. It also entered into tie-ups with international studios and production houses to offer a variety of content, apart from developing original content. After achieving a strong subscriber base, Hotstar, which had been a completely ad-driven service, introduced a premium service – to garner paid subscribers. The case delves into the threat posed by the rise of competition in the Indian streaming space, apart from providing an insight into the challenges plaguing the platform, including its failure to turn a profit. Considering the high growth prospects in the Indian streaming space, can Hotstar maintain its leading position and earn profits in the future?

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand the customer driven marketing strategy of a service company
• Identify the strategies used by a service company to achieve a competitive advantage through differentiation
• Analyze its competitive position through Porters Five Forces Analysis

Keywords

Hotstar; Star TV; Online Streaming; Service Differentiation; Customer Driven Marketing Strategy; Segmentation; Targeting ; Positioning ; Porters Five Forces Model; Competitive Strategies; Monetization Models; Advertising; Freemium ; Advertisement-based Video-On-Demand; Subscription Video- on-Demand