Viacom18-owned Jio Cinema is set to disrupt India’s subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market with one of the industry's lowest pricing plans for premium content.

Beginning April 25, Jio Cinema Premium will offer Indian and Hollywood entertainment content at an introductory tariff of Rs 29/month for a single device and Rs 89/month for up to four devices, the company said. This comes close on the heels of the success of its free strategy in the advertising VOD space.

Live sports and catch-up broadcast content will continue to be available for free, the company said, adding that Jio Cinema, like other broadcast-owned OTT (over-the-top) platforms, will use a hybrid monetization strategy.

The new pricing is a significant drop from its Rs 999/year and Rs 99/month plans, which offered only Hollywood content. Unlike the existing plans, the new plans will be ad-free, the company said.

Jio Cinema Premium will provide users with web originals, movies and content for children, along with Hollywood content from HBO, NBCUniversal and Paramount Global. Viacom18's linear TV content will also be made available before the broadcast premiere.

The company’s new tariff plan will hot up competition with Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix and Prime Video, which collectively have 50–60 million subscribers.

"The new pricing is a sharp reduction for an ad-free experience. They are providing more content over and above the Hollywood content and charging less for this," said Elara Capital’s senior vice president Karan Taurani.

He said Jio Cinema Premium will impact the SVOD industry negatively since the Indian Premier League (IPL), the most premium media property, continues to remain outside the paywall.

"The SVOD players will not be able to increase average revenue per user due to Jio Cinema's aggressive pricing," he said.

Experts say the move marks Jio Cinema's pivot towards a hybrid monetization model, and the ongoing IPL cricket tournament provides the perfect launch pad for it to implement its new pricing.

Viacom18’s CEO-Digital Kiran Mani said Jio Cinema Premium's goal is to redefine premium entertainment for Indians. “The introduction of Jio Cinema Premium breaks the numerous cost and quality barriers that exist in accessing premium entertainment," he said.

In a recent note, Taurani had said that Jio Cinema’s revenue for FY24 is estimated at Rs 2,700 crore, based on Network18's financials for the last financial year.

Jio Cinema has been offering premium Indian content across entertainment and sports channels for free. The platform has built a strong advertising business on the back of free streaming of impact properties like IPL and Bigg Boss.

Jio Cinema's free sports streaming has had a cascading effect on the industry, with OTT market leader Disney+ Hotstar also offering the Asia Cup, 2023 ICC Men's World Cup, and Pro Kabaddi League for free to mobile users.

Barring Netflix and Prime Video, most of the large OTT players, including Disney+ Hotstar, ZEE5 and Sony LIV, have a hybrid monetization model.

In September 2022, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved the amalgamation of Jio Cinema, which was owned by a Reliance Industries subsidiary, into Viacom18.

Viacom18 is in the process of merging with Walt Disney-owned Star India to create a $8.5-billion media behemoth. The merged entity will have Jio Cinema and Disney+ Hotstar, two of the strongest OTT apps in the country.