Novi Digital Entertainment Private Limited which owns streaming platform Hotstar, has posted a 5% increase to Rs 1,670.63 crore in revenue from operations for FY21 as opposed to Rs 1,593.02 crore in FY20, according to financial data accessed by business intelligence platform, Tofler. Subsidiary of Star India Private Limited, the company has posted a 66% increase in loss to Rs 600.7 crore in FY21 when compared to Rs 361.8 crore in FY20.
With covid wreaking havoc across the world last year, the advertising and media world were also affected. Due to this, the company’s revenue from advertising dipped 15% to Rs 829.74 crore in FY21 when compared to FY20 where it clocked Rs 974.23 crore. However, with over-the-top (OTT) platforms seeing a surge in userbase as TV ran out of fresh content for three months, the platform reported a 34% increase to Rs 830.96 crore in FY21 as opposed to Rs 618.79 crore in the previous year. Furthermore, Hotstar also clocked Rs 9.93 crore from licensing of content rights in FY21.
Meanwhile, the company’s total expenses rose 16% to Rs 2304.8 crore in FY21 from Rs 1990.58 crore in FY20. Hotstar’s advertising promotional expenses increase 68% to Rs 479.63 crore last fiscal when compared to Rs 286.03 crore in the year before. Meanwhile, rights and programme cost rose 22% to Rs 397.64 crore in FY21 from Rs 325.98 crore. Licence fees stood at Rs 708.61, posting a marginal increase of two percent when compared to Rs 722.53 crore in FY20.
In its filing, Novi Digital said that Disney+ Hotstar has become one of the market leaders in 2020-21, leaving behind the other OTT platforms during the Covid-19 pandemic. It further stated that one of the key factors for the growth of subscriptions for online video was the aggressive pricing model adopted by Disney+ Hotstar. Currently, the platform offers more than 100,000 hours of content spanning TV shows, short form content through Disney+ Hotstar’s ‘Quix’ feature and movies in 8 languages and coverage of every major sporting tournament. “Disney+ Hotstar Premium has a large selection of Disney+ originals, latest American shows, blockbuster Hollywood movies and award-winning content from international studios; whereas with Disney+ Hotstar VIP, users get access to Disney content in local languages, exclusive new content from the Hotstar Specials label, new Bollywood blockbuster movies for direct release on Disney+ Hotstar through its ‘Multiplex’ feature, access to STAR network serials before television, and the latest and best of live sporting action,” the company stated, adding that the platform has had up to 227 million monthly active users during 2020-2021.
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