is free for you. The possibilities presented to us by the internet are endless. The latest development in the entertainment industry is programming on demand. Each viewer has their preference and online streaming allows for higher viewership. Hotstar gained momentum and enjoyed mainstream attention after streaming major cricket matches in .
The principal owners of the app, STAR TV, previously ed daily episodes of every serial on separate YouTube channels. With long-running shows, managing all those channels was becoming a tedious task. Following the footsteps of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime etc. they developed their own mobile video streaming application.
Over the 3 years of its existence, Hotstar has established a stronghold in their market. Currently offering over 1000 shows on 29 channels alongside live streaming and exclusive material, it is comparatively cheaper than Netflix and more customized. Hotstar is also looking to add News channels and other localized channels to their portfolio in due time.
The creators of Hotstar spent almost 5 quarters on building the platform to the best of their ability. A beta version was launched early in 2015 and used to premiere the Star Guild Awards before they were aired on TV. A month later, more than 35000 hours of content in a handful of languages allowed Hotstar to hit the ground running.
From streaming global events such as the Academy Awards and the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015, Hotstar was able to gather several millions of views and they never looked back. The increasing popularity of Netflix in the West did not bother STAR TV. They realized by then that a majority of their audience preferred content in local languages and that allowed Hotstar to maintain and capitalize on their base.
Adding more exclusive Bollywood content, they reeled more s towards them and were able to create a protective bubble around them.
The main reason behind launching the app was to allow viewers to watch their favorite programs on the go, on their mobile devices. However, using laptops and PCs to watch TV has slowly become the norm. Don’t know how to get Hotstar running on your PC? Don’t worry, we’re here to help.
If you have Windows 10, ing the Hotstar App is a fairly easy task. Search your Microsoft Store for the “Hotstar” app. Installing directly from the store should the app on your laptop or PC and you can use it from there.
If you have any other operating system than Windows 10 or do not want to load the app from the store, you can run Hotstar on your PC exactly as it functions on the smartphone. This does involve ing third-party software to your PC.
BlueStacks is a well-known Android Emulator software and running it transforms your computer screen into that of a smartphone. Make sure you have larger memory space available on your PC so the emulator can run smoothly and streaming doesn’t hang often.
Once BlueStacks is ed, just Hotstar as you would on your phone and enjoy viewing what you want!
Hotstar primarily generates its income from ments but also offers service to customers who do not like to be interrupted a lot. Like several other online streaming apps and websites, Hotstar provides its services for free for the first month.
Once the free trial month is over, they offer a variety of packages covering different lengths of time. The longer you subscribe for, the fewer you pay. Here is a list of charges with their corresponding periods of time (All amounts are in INR):
The short and simple answer would be, No.
Hotstar currently works only in India, but with Indians and die-hard Bollywood fans spread all across the globe, they are working on international access. Until then, using proxy servers and VPNs which route from India are the only ways Hotstar can be operated from outside India.
is following suit of its Western counterparts, Netflix and Hulu, it holds a key advantage over all other such services; productions. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, etc. started primarily as streaming services and have recently started experimenting with their own productions. STAR TV, on the other hand, already has several production houses and just required an app for streaming their own content. This provides a significant advantage to them in of the learning curve and financing projects. By combining the data gathered from Hotstar, regarding the habits and tastes of their viewers, STAR TV can improve the content being put out. This ensures a higher viewership and more subscribers.
With Bollywood being one of the world’s largest film industries, it has a fan-base encoming majority of the globe. This ensures customer loyalty and that a constant demand for that genre of entertainment remains. Hotstar has identified its target audience and is gradually expanding its content pool. Therefore, keeping in mind the Supply – Demand principle, Hotstar does not have anything to worry about at present. The only factor they have to keep an eye out for is global coverage. It is the only way competitors can gain an advantage over them.
