IPL gone. F1 gone. HBO gone.

It has given up IPL to Viacom. It has given up F1 to F1TV. And now it is giving up HBO to Prime Video.

Hotstar seems to be focusing more on originals now.

Before, Hotstar used sports content to attract users.

That’s why Hotstar paid for expensive IPL and F1 rights.

But then Netflix made F1 Drive to Survive.

Instead of showing live F1 races, Netfix made a documentary about F1 called Drive to Survive.

Drive to Survive became a massive hit. F1 fans loved it.

But more importantly, Netflix attracted F1 fans without paying for expensive F1 rights.

Now, Netflix has started working on DTS Season 6. They have also made documentaries on golf,tennis, NBA, NFL, etc.

This Netflix’s Drive to Survive strategy: to attract sports fans, make shows about sports instead of paying for sports rights.

It seems that Hotstar is following the same strategy.

Hotstar knew that when they gave up IPL, they would lose a lot of subscribers.

They lost 3.8 million subscribers immediately, and they are expected to lose upto 15M subscribers. Just from IPL.

Now, Hotstar is focusing on its own orignals. Last year, they announced that they are working on 100 new Hotstar Originals.

Smart strategy? Maybe, but what's the point of having 100 mediocre shows I would rather have fewer but actually good shows