August is here, and another month has gone by in a flash. We at Binged are back with our report card on the performance of streaming giant Disney Plus Hotstar in the month of July. Read our report on Disney Plus Hotstar to find out how well or how horribly did it do in the month of July.
Please note that we cover only Indian content in our monthly reports for Indian OTT platforms.
June was reasonably good for Disney Plus Hotstar, what with several buzzy Indian Original shows hitting the platform in the previous month, including hit show The Night Manager Part 2. June saw not one or two, but four Indian Original titles premiere on Disney Plus Hotstar. The titles were in different Indian languages, including Hindi, Telugu and the first ever Malayalam web series in India.
However, come July, and Disney Plus Hotstar seems to have squandered away the advantage it gained in June. July, for Disney Plus Hotstar, was marked by an abysmal dearth of original content on the platform. Only two Indian Original titles premiered on Disney Plus Hotstar in July – the poorly received Kajol starrer, ‘The Trial’; and a new season of the mid series, Aashiqana.
Disney Plus Hotstar made do with only licensed content for the rest of July, albeit it did manage to get its hands on the post-theatrical streaming rights for a few buzzy Indian movies. The licensed titles are the only content that have helped Disney Plus Hotstar to save face in the month of July.
Here’s our July report for Disney Plus Hotstar –
Indian Original Web Series –
Kajol’s OTT debut ‘The Trial’ was largely a miss, mostly due to its mediocre plot, poor dialogues, abominable performances and sorry direction. Viewers did give it a try due to Kajol’s star power, but came away unimpressed.
Aashiqana Season 4 on Disney Plus Hotstar turned out to be as mediocre as the previous seasons of the series. One wonders if it even deserves a place on OTT, or is better off as a show on television.
Licensed Films –
Disney Plus Hotstar streamed four licensed films this month. Out of the four, Hindi film IB 71 had the most buzz, due to its lead star Vidyut Jammwal. Malayalam comedy film Janaki Jaane also drew in good views, as did Tamil film Good Night. The latter was a legit hit for Disney Plus Hotstar. The final film, Telugu direct to digital release Rudramambapuram came and went without creating any kind of impact or impression on viewers.
Here’s the July score for Disney Plus Hotstar –
1. The Trial – Hindi series – Semi-hit
2. Aashiqana Season 4 – Hindi series – Flop
3. Good Night – Tamil film – Hit
4. Rudramambapuram – Telugu film – flop
5. IB 17 – Hindi film – Hit
6. Janaki Jaane – Malayalam film – Hit
Scoring –
Superhit – 2 points
Hit – 1 point
Semi-hit – 0.5 point
Flop – 0 points
As per the above, the score for Disney Plus Hotstar in July is 3.5/6, which gives it a success score of 58.6% for the month of July – quite a poor score.
Let’s hope August turns out better for Disney Plus Hotstar.
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.