Walt Disney’s BVVOD paid Rs 178.13 for acquisition of Hotstar’s US biz

Disney+ Hotstar, which was called Hotstar in the US, exited the market in 2021. Walt Disney’s BVVOD is a leading distributor of movies in the Video-On-Demand arena.

According to Novi Digital Entertainment’s FY22 filing sourced by Tofler, the company also received Rs 41.59 crore due to write-back of deferred income relating to Hotstar US subscribers taken over by BVVOD.

In FY22,
Novi Digital recognised an exceptional income of Rs 219.72 crore due to the sale of Hotstar’s US operations and the write-back of deferred income.

For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, the company recorded 93% growth in its total turnover of Rs 3,220.41 crore and a 43% reduction in net loss to Rs 343.16 crore.

Ad revenue zoomed 103% to Rs 1684.31 crore while subscription revenue surged 65% to Rs 1373.61 crore.

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In August 2021, Walt Disney said Hotstar’s content will migrate to its ESPN+ and Hulu streaming platforms in the US.
Hotstar’s sports content moved to ESPN+ while the entertainment content was shifted to Hulu, a subscription-based streaming service in which Comcast holds 33%.

The decision was part of Disney’s strategy to consolidate its content into its streaming bundle that comprised Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu.

Disney+ Hotstar, which had 61.3 million paid subscribers as of October 1, 2022, is available in India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

The average monthly revenue per paid subscriber for Disney+ Hotstar increased from $0.68 to $0.88 driven by higher per-subscriber advertising revenue and increases in retail pricing.

Disney+ Hotstar offers more than 100,000 hours of content spanning TV shows, Disney+ originals, Hotstar Specials, movies in eight languages, and sports.

The platform’s live sports catalogue comprises Indian Premier League (TV rights), International Cricket Council (digital rights), Cricket Australia, and the Indian cricket team’s home matches, among others.

As of March 31, 2022, Star India held 78.07% of Novi Digital Entertainment while the remaining 21.93% was owned by Star US Holdings Subsidiary LLC.

In April 2020, Star India and Star US Holdings infused Rs 1,113.76 crore in Novi Digital Entertainment. According to Tofler, Star India had invested Rs 869.47 crore while Star US Holdings Subsidiary LLC injected Rs 244.29 crore.