It’s October already, and just three more months for a new year to begin. We at Binged are back with our report card on the performance of streaming giant Disney Plus Hotstar for the month of September. It has overall been a good month for Hotstar, mainly due to two superhit streams.
2023 has not been very kind to streaming giant Disney Plus Hotstar, especially the first half. Thankfully, Disney Plus Hotstar hopes to end the year with a bang and new subscribers, riding on the back of successive popular cricket tournaments. Yes, we’re talking of the just concluded Asia Cup 2023 and the upcoming ICC Men’s World Cup 2023.
The Asia Cup 2023 proved to be the saving grace for Disney Plus Hotstar in September. After a surprisingly good August, September was again a good month for Disney Plus Hotstar. The Hotstar original titles failed to make much of an impact on viewers at large. Licensed films proved to be better, in terms of buzz and viewership. But it was cricket that brought spectacular success for Disney Plus Hotstar in September.
Read our report on Disney Plus Hotstar to find out how well or how horribly did it do in the month of September.
Please note that we cover only Indian content in our monthly reports for Indian OTT platforms.
Here’s our September report for Disney Plus Hotstar –
Indian Original Web Series –
Disney Plus Hotstar released not one, not two but an impressive five Indian Original series, in myriad languages. Kaala and The Freelancer in Hindi, Athidhi in Telugu, and MY3 in Tamil. Additionally, the Hindi series Aakhri Sach spilled over from last month into September, since it was streaming in the one-episode-per-week format. Sadly, none can be called a superhit for the platform, and most turned out to be average.
Indian Original Films –
Disney Plus Hotstar premiered the much-awaited direct to digital release Tumse Na Ho Payega in September. Viewers had high hopes for the film, coming as it did from makers like Nitesh Tiwari, Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Siddharth Roy Kapur and Ronnie Screwvala. Alas, the film was just about average for the platform.
Licensed Films –
Disney Plus Hotstar premiered two licensed titles this month, King Of Kotha and Kick, with both being hits for the platform.
Specials –
Disney Plus Hotstar streamed the cricket Asia Cup 2023 in September, which proved to be a superhit for the platform. The cricket tournament shattered records, clocking in eye-popping viewing numbers for most matches, especially the ones with India in it. The spectacular records were also made possible due to Disney Plus Hotstar’s strategy of streaming the matches absolutely free on the Disney Plus Hotstar mobile app.
Original Series –
The Freelancer – Hindi series – Hit
Kaala – Hindi series – Semi-Hit
Aakhri Sach – Hindi series – Flop
Athidhi – Tamil series – Hit
MY3 – Semi-Hit
Original Film –
Tumse Na Ho Payega – Semi-Hit
Licensed Films –
King Of Kotha – Malayalam film – Super-hit
Kick – Tamil series – Hit
Specials –
Cricket Asia Cup 2023
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 September is 8.5/9, which gives it a spectacular success score of 94.4 for the month of September – which is superb!
So September turned out really good for Disney Plus Hotstar. Let’s see how October goes!
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