Reliance Jio, the latest entrant in the Indian network carrier operators, has now entered into a content deal with Balaji’s online OTT content platform AltBalaji. This development comes just days after the telecom operator renewed its content deal with Eros International.
This step is being taken by Reliance Jio to strengthen its position in the market against rivals like Bharti Airtel, which is also currently engaged in securing deals with media houses to offer such services to its users.
ALTBalaji said that Reliance Jio with an established user base of over 160 million would help its to strengthen the content distribution. Nachiket Pantvaidya, Group COO and CEO of ALTBalaji said, “we believe that our association with the Jio platforms will help us reach their consumers and let them enjoy the content we are proud to present. Our offerings have a very good fit with the Jio Digital Life eco-system.”
He further said that their content caters to the Indian language mass audience and is targeted at 18-45 years demographic. He adds, “the early response to our content has been good, and now we wish to be available inside all environments where audiences exist and consume videos.”
ALTBalaji is currently offering 14 original shows in different languages across various genres such as romance, mystery, drama, and comedy. Notably, Reliance Industries Limited, the parent of Jio, already owns 24.9% stake in Balaji Telefilms — the parent of ALTBalaji.
The content play has become one of the main key differentiators in the market which is currently in cut-throat competition mode. Apart from Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular too have been making efforts to solidify their respective content play through various partnerships.