Changemakers 2024: Mukesh Ambani is Changing the Global Media Landscape

Ten years ago, at the 2014 annual general meeting (AGM) of Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani had made his vision clear. Talking about the conglomerate’s decision to acquire the media company Viacom18, Ambani said, “[The acquisition will] differentiate and strengthen our 4G business at the unique intersection of telecom, web, digital commerce and the media through a suite of premier digital properties.”

A decade of big moves in the media sector later, Ambani’s decision to acquire Disney Hotstar this year has set the stage for Reliance’s dominance of India’s online streaming space. The joint venture, valued at Rs 70,532 crore, will allow Ambani to corner a significant portion of the market share against players like Sony and Zee.

The acquisition of Disney Hotstar could allow Reliance to cause the kind of disruption Jio had caused in the telecom sector a few years ago. The Jio experience is evidence of how Ambani can change the dynamics of a sector in a matter of months with a smart pricing strategy.

Perpetual Disruptor

The ‘disruptor’ tag is often reserved for young entrepreneurs in the start-up ecosystem. But few entrepreneurs can disrupt an industry in the manner of Ambani.

His disruption of the telecom sector paved the way for the Reliance Group to transition away from the traditional petrochemicals business to the new age digital economy. And his current bid to capture the media landscape is not only about getting a big share of the streaming pie but also about taking on the data dominance of Big Tech. And as such, the Disney Hotstar move appears to be part of Ambani’s strategy to usher in a new era for Reliance.

By acquiring Disney Hotstar, Ambani is not just hoping to become a big streaming player in India. “I believe it is time for India, as the world’s most populous nation, to assert its voice and gain its rightful space in the influential global media,” said the 67-year-old industrialist at the Reliance AGM held earlier this year.

Reports say that prior to the acquisition, Disney Hotstar held 26% of the streaming market share. JioCinemas, Reliance’s own streaming platform, had 7%. Having merged, the combined entity will not only grab more eyeballs, but it will also put the entity at a distinct advantage with advertisers, helping it bring in a lot of money.

“Jio has been disrupting the digital space aggressively over the past two years with their OTT [over-the-top] offering JioCinema. They acquired the Fifa [International Federation of Association Football] World Cup 2022 rights and streamed it for free. They did the same with the IPL [Indian Premier League] in 2023. Through this undercutting strategy, they were broadening the number of advertisers and making it difficult for TV rights holders,” Lloyd Mathias, a Delhi-based business strategist and independent director, told Outlook Business during an earlier interaction.

But advertising is not the only battle Ambani wants to win. His eyes are set on a much bigger pie—data.

King of Data

“Data is the new oil” is an expression so often repeated that it borders on the cliche. But it is telling that the inheritor of one of India’s largest petrochemicals businesses is now going after data. Data has been the plaything of tech giants like Meta and Google so far. These companies have cracked how to advertise best using precise user behaviour data. It is the personalised data available to these big tech companies that has allowed them to surpass more traditional players. Ambani seems keen to play this game.

Already equipped with telecom and retail data of a large swathe of the population, Ambani is now in a position to deliver results in the advertising tech space. “Nearly all telecom companies around the world are trying to figure out ways to get into the advertising space. But they have not been able to do so because even though they had the data, they could not use it due to a lack of attractive inventory,” says Neeraj Sharma, managing director, growth markets media lead at Accenture, a consultancy.

The Disney Hotstar acquisition will help Reliance solve this puzzle.

Among the many things Ambani spoke of while describing his dreams for Reliance at this year’s AGM, one dream stood out: the dream to transform Reliance into a deep tech company. His father Dhirubhai Ambani had left him a lucrative petrochemicals business. As Mukesh Ambani plans to retire, he wants to bequeath to the next generation a synergy of telecom, retail and media never seen before. Conventional wisdom says big, old businesses often lose the edge to lead disruption at scale. Ambani looks set to change that.