The principal owners of the app, STAR TV, previously uploaded 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.
Hotstar For PC
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 Journey
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 users towards them and were able to create a protective bubble around them.
Hotstar Channels:
- Star Plus
- Star Jalsha
- Star Vijay
- Star Bharat
- Life OK
- Asianet
- Star Maa
- Star World
- HBO Originals
- SHOWTIME
- Hotstar Originals
- Hotstar Picks
- ABC Studios
- Star Pravah
- Fox Life
- Nat Geo
- Asianet Plus
- Star Suvarna
- Maa Gold
- Star Utsav
- Channel V
- Star Sports 1
- Star Sports 2
- Star Sports Select 2
- Star Sports Tamil 1
- Star Sports Hindi 1
- Star Sports Select HD1
- Star Sports Select HD2
- STAR Sports First
For Windows 10
If you have Windows 10, downloading the Hotstar App is a fairly easy task. Search your Microsoft Store for the “Hotstar” app. Installing directly from the store should download the app on your laptop or PC and you can use it from there.For Other Windows/OS
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 downloading 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 downloaded, just download Hotstar as you would on your phone and enjoy viewing what you want!
How it Works
Hotstar primarily generates its income from advertisements but also offers premium 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):
- 199 for a Month
- 597 for 3 Months
- 1194 for 6 Months
- 999 for 9 months
- 1200 for a year
Can I Use Hotstar Anywhere?
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.
Competitive Advantage
As Hotstar for pc 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 terms of the learning curve and financing projects. By combining the data gathered from Hotstar, regarding the habits and taste of their viewers, STAR TV can improve the content being put out. This ensures a higher viewership and more subscribers.Is Hotstar Here to Stay?
With Bollywood being one of the world’s largest film industries, it has a fan-base encompassing 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 the 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.Sign up for your month of free-trial and decide for yourself!
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