Ten months after entering the premium entertainment market, JioHotstar is pushing hard into South India’s fast-rising creative economy. At a media showcase outlining the platform’s next chapter, in Chennai, the company announced plans to invest INR 4,000 crore to build what it calls the country’s robust South-focused content and creator ecosystem.

The announcement came from Sushant Sreeram, head – SVOD business and chief marketing officer, JioStar, and Krishnan Kutty, head - entertainment business, south cluster, JioStar.

The showcase underlined how South stories are increasingly influencing national viewing habits, like for instance, more than 80% of Malayalam watch time now comes from outside Kerala.

Titles such as Heartbeat have crossed 100 million hours of watch time this year, while Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra and Mirai are among the platform’s most-watched films. Movies like Thudarum and Tourist Family are also drawing record audiences.

The scale is visible in unscripted entertainment, too. Bigg Boss (South) viewership alone is larger than the entire audience of the next closest streaming platform.

JioHotstar’s data shows South consumers spend almost 70% more time on the platform compared to the rest of the country, reflecting strong loyalty and depth of engagement. To meet this appetite, the platform has worked with more than 500 writers, directors and showrunners in the past 10 months, with close to 75% of South originals this year choosing JioHotstar.

The company is also working with the Government of Tamil Nadu to support the creative ecosystem through labs, internships and state-led programs.