[GTO]

Till very recently, Hotstar used to brag about:

- IPL rights

- Showing Formula 1 races

- Top-class content & shows from HBO

"Product" is everything and in streaming, you live & die by your content. In the midst of this, Hotstar has lost all of the three points listed above.

IPL fans now have to hop over to Jio. F1 fans have to subscribe on the official F1 app (a lose-lose situation for Hotstar & Formula 1). And fans of series such as "Succession" (new season just released), well, we don't know where to watch it.

How does India's biggest streaming player lose sight of its objectives like this? When I log onto Hotstar's homepage, I only see junk (Gaslight, LOL), recycled stuff from Star World and some old greats (already watched).

Are you guys continuing with your Hotstar subscription? Without HBO & F1, I see no reason to. Hotstar is weakening its base at a time when other players are coming out with top-class content.

[ninjatalli]

Short answer - jump ship.

I already had a big issue with their ad popups during movies (wasn't on their highest tier of premium plan); and with HBO & F1 pulling the plug, I'm just waiting for my current annual membership to get over.

And it doesn't even make sense for Disney (/Marvel) content - you end up watching the movies in the theatre; and not every TV series of the Marvel+ universe is really worth watching.

Honestly, this is quite sad. If anyone had asked me to rank the OTT platforms, till end of last year, my answer would have been

Hotstar > Netflix > Prime > rest (SonyLiv, etc.)

-------

On a side note, I have already done the same for Netflix too. Don't see a reason to pay the premium; their choice of new content (across shows & movies) is quite all over the place these days.

[prateekm]

There's a well-researched article by The Ken on this topic.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by GTO

Are you guys continuing with your Hotstar subscription? Without HBO & F1, I see no reason to. Hotstar is weakening its base at a time when other players are coming out with top-class content.

I was mainly with Hotstar for 3 things.

HBO content.
Cricket stuff.
F1 races.

All 3 are gone so I don't find any value in it.
However my subscription is till Nov so stuck with them till then, won't be renewing afterwards.

[AtheK]

They timed it perfectly with my subscription end date of 27th March , good bye Hotstar, it was good knowing you!

[AnandB]

HBO is a big loss but I still watch Premier League. Other stuff along with Disney/Marvel is still worth it for me.

[creative420]

I’m just using the free VIP (worth 899) subscription that I got bundled with Airtel Broadband. Thank god HBO moved away, my wife was about to renew the premium 1499 subscription thinking they’ll air the 4th season of Succession. Jio has done a very aggressive revamp of their OTT. Thinking of shifting to Jio Broadband when the Airtel Broadband annual subscription ends in July.

[LBWKjesko]

Originally Posted by GTO

Are you guys continuing with your Hotstar subscription? Without HBO & F1, I see no reason to. Hotstar is weakening its base at a time when other players are coming out with top-class content.

I was eagerly waiting for the new season of succession that's why I held on to the subscription after hotstar lost the F1 streaming rights. Now that they've lost HBO and F1 both, it's only justified that they lose their audience too.

[robby0707]

I’m just using hotstar for premier league now. Rest, hotstar has lost it.

[Eddy]

I will (grudgingly) continue with the subscription for the cricket they still have left, including the 2023 World Cup.

[thanixravindran]

Got rid of it as they lost their USP of curated content. Netflix as well as it seems no longer have the edge. Still retained Prime due to Amazon shopping.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by GTO

Are you guys continuing with your Hotstar subscription? Without HBO & F1, I see no reason to. Hotstar is weakening its base at a time when other players are coming out with top-class content.

I would probably be the odd man out here. I am continuing the subscription but not for myself, beat this, for my parents as they are used to watching ad-free serials

They switched from DTH to OTT for their serials long back and are so used to it now that I can't do shit about it. Guess that's the user base hotstar will be left with now. Folks who watch Star network soap operas.

Similar case with Zee5 subscription. One shitty platform it is but have to continue subscription for parents.

Come to think of it, my senior citizen parents consume more OTT time than me and wifey combined

Personally I am using netflix to some extent and amazon prime(this more because of shopping and amazon music)

[TheRandomGuy]

Originally Posted by prateekm

There's a well-researched article by The Ken on this topic.

Off topic, but how good is the Ken membership? I really love business news and well researched articles like these. I read every finshots article on the day, and looks like Ken is the next level from finshots.

But, at 3000INR per year, seems a bit excessive. What is your opinion on this?

I guess some sort of account sharing is the way to reduce burden of the high cost.

[DigitalOne]

Originally Posted by GTO

Are you guys continuing with your Hotstar subscription?

Yes and No. Coincidentally, my yearly rs1499 subscription is ending tomorrow.

Since last month I am not able to stream Hotstar content on my TV using Chromecast (The TV / Streaming shows thread (no spoilers please)). So watching Hotstar has anyway reduced drastically. Was looking forward to watch Succession .

I planning to buy the cheapest mobile only 1 month plan with ads so my wife can finish watching The Americans (The TV / Streaming shows thread (no spoilers please)). After that, it's goodbye Hotstar.

[dragonfire]

I just renewed my subscription last week. Yes HBO is gone, so no more The last of us. But then the two series that I am watching currently - Grey's Anatomy and Last man standing are there . Also my son is exploring the Marvel series. And wife is hooked to Bigg Boss 24X7. So not regretting. I will keep finding stuff to watch.