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Disney+ Hotstar’s Coldplay fever: Is live music the next big frontier for Indian OTTs?

Sohini Mitter

January 31, 2025 | 3 Min Read

January 31, 2025 | 3 Min Read

Globally, Apple TV+ has been doing it since 2023, but India’s live music streaming party is only getting started. With Disney+ Hotstar clocking massive numbers for Coldplay’s Republic Day concert, other homegrown OTTs could soon follow suit. Finally, live cricket has a challenger.

Homegrown OTT major Disney+ Hotstar, which made sports streaming ubiquitous in the country, may have stumbled upon a new golden goose—live music.

As Coldplay sold out Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium for the last leg of its India tour, racking up a record-breaking attendance of 134,000 fans, Disney+ Hotstar notched up massive numbers on the streaming front. The platform garnered 8.3 million live stream views and 165 million minutes of cumulative watch-time in three hours of the concert, which was a part of the Chris Martin-led rock band’s Music of the Spheres global tour. Simply put, these numbers are only comparable to the Cricket World Cup finals.

While audiences from all parts of the country tuned in, 85% of the viewership came from the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Delhi-NCR, UP, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal, Disney+ Hotstar revealed in a statement. “This is just the beginning of an era where technology and storytelling come together to unlock endless possibilities in live entertainment,” Kiran Mani, CEO-Digital at JioStar, noted.

Disney+ Hotstar went full throttle to draw audiences for this big-ticket event, from integrating Coldplay’s song lyrics on the platform and engaging audiences in a highly interactive manner to roping in influencers to host watch parties, and so on. It is said to have sold the three-hour concert’s title sponsorship at a whopping Rs 10 crore, with co-powered sponsorships and associate sponsorships going for Rs 7 crore and Rs 3 crore, respectively.

A bevvy of brands—Jameson Ginger Ale, Cisco, Courtyard by Marriott, Diageo, Chivas, Maybelline, Oreo, and more—cutting across sectors lined up to attach their names to the Coldplay hype. It, of course, didn’t hurt that the stream was high-octane, seamless, and truly immersive.

The Upshot

There’s no doubt that premium, high-value live entertainment is the next big monetisation opportunity for OTTs in India. The numbers achieved by the Coldplay concert has only validated the hypothesis that there’s money to be made outside cricket too.

Disney+ Hotstar managed to make the most of the ticket wars that were unfolding on BookMyShow by bringing the much-awaited concert to people’s living rooms, effectively transforming scarcity into opportunity.

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