Things at streaming behemoth Disney Plus Hotstar are getting weirder as time passes by. Regular readers of Binged will know that the streamer is on the edge of burn-out, what with dwindling subscribers in recent times. Disney Plus Hotstar is on the verge of being bought by the deep-pocketed Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries.
At such a sensitive time, Disney Plus Hotstar has gone and done something totally unexpected. Try as you might, you’ll find it difficult to wrap your heads around the reason for Disney Plus Hotstar’s actions. The streaming giant has rebranded three of its old shows and re-released them as a fresh, abridged avatar. Two of those shows are from 2022, while the third released on Disney Plus Hotstar in March this year.
The three shows are Pop Kaun, Escaype Live and Karm Yuddh. The three are now known as Baap Kaun, Social: Ek Haadsa and Aakhri Shikaar. Disney Plus Hotstar has re-released the three shows in the one-episode-per-day format.
Weird, isn’t it?
No one knows why Disney Plus Hotstar is doing what it does. The episodes of the three shows have reportedly been trimmed to make them shorter and crisper. Also the titles have been re-created to remove English words and replace them with Hindi ones.
Maybe Disney Plus Hotstar wants to attract viewers from tier 2 and tier 3 cities, with the Hindi-fied rebranding of titles, and shorter, simpler episodes? Or maybe, the exercise is the result of over-thinking executives who have no plan of action in mind to attract new subscribers – so why not throw things at the wall and see what sticks?
Either way, we think it’s an exercise in futility. All three shows were mediocre at best, and failed to reel in viewers when they first premiered on Disney Plus Hotstar.
What difference will a new name make?
Only Disney Plus Hotstar knows!