KOLKATA: Disney+Hostar has been a significant contributor to Walt Disney Co. (Disney)’s biggest OTT bet Disney+. Following its success in India and Indonesia, Disney+Hotstar is now rapidly expanding its footprints in the South East Asian market. Coming 30 June, the service will be operational in Thailand.
As revealed on the official website of Disney+Hotstar Thailand, the service will be available at 799 baht a year or 99 baht per month. It will have close ties with local telecom provider AIS. For AIS customers, the service will be priced at 35 baht per month if pre-subscribed between 8-27 June with an additional one-month free service.
Along with Thai shows, content from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, National Geographic will be available for its users. Disney has entered partnerships with studios like GDH 559, Sahamongkolfilm, Kantana Group, and One 31 for a robust content library. Exclusive shows like God Bless The Trainees Too!, Extraordinary Siamese Story: Eng and Chang, movies such as Pee Mak, Friend Zone, Brother Of The Year, Laddaland, and Tom Yum Goong will be on the service.
Disney+Hotstar entered Malaysia just a week back on 1 June. The platform struck a deal with Astro Malaysia Bhd for distribution. For its Singapore launch last year, it tied up with Starhub.
Hotstar, which grew as an Indian OTT platform under Star India, came under the Disney umbrella after the 21st Century Fox acquisition. After Disney Plus’ launch, the parent company decided to rebrand it as Disney+Hotstar in India to leverage the existing base of consumers. Notably, Hotstar was already regarded as the biggest OTT platform after YouTube in the Indian market. As Disney+Hotstar was launched in India last April, it was soon expanded in Indonesia.
Disney+ paid subscribers already exceeded 100 million at the end of March, Disney+Hotstar was the strongest contributor to net subscriber addition and made approximately a third of the total Disney+ subscriber base.
Recently, the company announced that it will close 100 linear channels this year to push its direct-to-consumer strategy. A large part of the linear TV content will move to Disney+.
