Reliance’s Media Empire Soars: JioStar & Network18 Deliver ₹34,917 Cr Revenue and ₹3,434 Cr Profit in FY26, Powered by IPL, JioHotstar & Dhurandhar Blockbuster

Mumbai: Reliance Industries’ media and entertainment vertical has delivered a blockbuster financial performance in FY26, with JioStar and Network18 together posting revenue of ₹34,917 crore, EBITDA of ₹5,842 crore, and a healthy net profit of ₹3,434 crore. The results, shared by Akash Ambani at the company’s 49th Annual General Meeting, underscore the massive scale achieved by the merged entity in both linear TV and digital streaming.

JioStar, the powerhouse combining Star India’s legacy with Viacom18 and Jio’s digital muscle, continues to dominate India’s entertainment landscape. The network commanded a commanding 34.7% viewership share in linear TV — nearly equal to the next three players combined — and attracted a staggering 389 million daily viewers across genres and languages.

On the digital front, JioHotstar has emerged as India’s undisputed streaming leader and a global heavyweight. The platform averaged 451 million monthly active users in FY26, crossed 1 billion downloads (a first for any Indian paid OTT service), and is now available on 99% of connected TVs in the country. Live sports proved to be the biggest draw: the 2026 IPL drew over 700 million viewers, while India’s T20 World Cup campaign saw a record 72.5 million concurrent viewers — with JioHotstar holding nine of the top 10 global concurrency records.

Innovative features like the in-app Swiggy integration during IPL matches, interactive tools (voting, chat, memes) generating billions of engagements, and the rapid rise of the short-form “Tadka” hub (100 million+ users in months) further boosted engagement and commerce opportunities.

Jio Studios shone brightly on the big screen as well. The studio completed its third consecutive year as India’s highest-grossing Hindi film studio, largely on the back of the record-breaking Dhurandhar franchise starring Ranveer Singh and directed by Aditya Dhar. The action-spy thriller duology became the first Indian film series where each installment crossed ₹1,000 crore worldwide, with the franchise collectively surpassing ₹3,000 crore at the global box office.

Network18 also posted strong numbers, reaching 250 million monthly viewers on TV and over 450 million subscribers/followers digitally, with more than 65 billion video views across platforms. The launch of Creator18 signals Reliance’s aggressive push into the creator economy.

Akash Ambani highlighted AI as a key growth pillar, unveiling the JioStar GenAI Media Studio (JAMS) — an end-to-end AI-native content creation pipeline — alongside features like ChatGPT-powered discovery supporting Indian languages and accents.

This performance marks a near-doubling of revenue for the media business compared to previous years, reflecting the successful integration of assets and Reliance’s ability to dominate both cricket rights and premium content creation.

For Bollywood watchers, the numbers validate the growing synergy between big-screen successes like Dhurandhar, massive sports streaming, and a unified tech-driven distribution platform. Reliance’s media vertical is not just growing — it is redefining scale in Indian entertainment.

Stay tuned to Approach Bollywood for more updates from the RIL AGM and the business of Bollywood.