Reliance Jio is spreading its offerings fast and wide. It already has the Jio Music app as part of the main menu to all its subscribers and now, it has expanded it by bringing in the music streaming app Saavn into its fold.
The announcement comes directly from Akash Ambani, Director, Reliance Jio Infocomm, who appears to be the driving force behind many of Jio’s path-breaking moves. According to his statement, the Jio-Saavn partnership is expected to widen the user base and make their case stronger for the “leadership position in the Indian streaming market”.
It is also learnt that with Reliance Jio bringing in a valuation of $670 million, the combined setup gets a valuation of over $1 billion.
In addition to whatever investment Jio has already made for the tie-up or merger, an investment of $20 million is in the offing, towards making this one of the largest streaming services in the world. The total investment envisaged is $100 million.
In terms of what to expect, the statement from the company claims the Jio-Saavn partnership will see original content being developed not only from within the country but from other countries as well; plus, the platform will provide an independent space for artists to create content and share and can also emerge as the largest base for mobile advertising on an international scale.
It is reported that Reliance has paid $104 million to acquire part of the holding in the company from shareholders like Tiger Global, Liberty Media and Bertelsmann.
The over-the-top media platform will continue to be available for users from the play stores as before. In a relevant report released last year by FICCI-KPMG, it has been pointed out that there are 50-60 million active users per month for the music streaming segment on mobile devices and is one of the fastest growing segments, thanks to the 4G LTE connectivity at affordable tariffs.
For Reliance, the interest in the music streaming business comes following some investments made in the film and entertainment space, which included picking up a 5% stake in production house Eros International and also in Balaji Telefilms and Roy Kapur Films.
Reliance Jio is reported to have 131 million subscribers and a 14.75% share of the wireless telecom market achieving a turnover of Rs 6140 crore for the quarter ending September last.