Jiostar

24 September 2026

With Festive Spends Set to Rise by 46%, JioStar’s New Playbook Tells Brands Exactly How to Capture It

~ JioStar unveils the Festive Playbook bringing together the scale of TV, the pull of marquee entertainment and digital innovation to move brands from discovery to decision and purchase ~

Mumbai, 24th September, 2026: The festive season is underway and India is already in the mood to spend. JioStar’s Entertainment business has launched its Festive Playbook #HarGharMeinJashn, its flagship festive proposition bringing together insights and solutions to help brands navigate their festive journey.

The latest JioStar Festive Sentiment Survey 2026 is one of the inputs shaping the playbook. It finds that the average festive transaction size is expected to rise 46%, from ₹16,500 to ₹24,020. The path to purchase, however, begins much earlier. 68% of consumers start planning more than a month in advance and 49% of category buyers are still researching before choosing a brand*.

For brands, this makes the festive season much more than a moment of purchase. It is an extended window to build familiarity, influence consideration and stay relevant as consumers move from discovery to decision. JioStar is where that window already plays out for the majority of Indian consumers, bringing together the scale of television, the power of premium entertainment and the precision of digital and commerce.

JioStar’s Entertainment TV network commands 680+ bn viewing minutes**. During the festive period, primetime viewership rises 30% and the audience showing up is also the most attentive: 50% higher time-spent than UGC platforms***, attention scores upto 33% higher than leading UGC platforms ****, and 44% unique reach` along with ~2x higher search incidence than videos on UGC`. Television goes beyond awareness, actively moving consumers down the purchase funnel.

“For brands, winning the festive season starts well before the cart. Consumers on JioStar’s TV Network are not passively watching, they are spending 50% more time with our content vs UGC and paying significantly more attention than audiences on any other platform. When brands show up in that environment, alongside the premium content that India is actively choosing to spend time with, we see it translate into real outcomes – higher search, stronger consideration and sales growth that outpaces the category ,” said Mahesh Shetty, Head – Entertainment Sales, TV, JioStar.

JioHotstar extends JioStar’s festive reach across every screen, delivering 50-80% incremental reach on CTV and 50-90% on mobile over the leading UGC platform` and brings in reach that converts. Campaigns on JioHotstar deliver 2x higher effectiveness` across business metrics versus the leading UGC platform on CTV, and JioHotstar exposed audiences demonstrate 2.2x higher add-to-cart rates versus UGC-exposed audiences`.

“Festive period is when consumer intent to purchase is at its peak, making these months a critical window for brands to drive both visibility and conversion. Shared attention in the living rooms is the most valuable and most contested currency during this season. At JioHotstar, we give advertisers the ability to earn that attention through premium content along with the ability to engage consumers across the purchase journey with commerce-led solutions that can translate engagement into measurable business outcomes,” said Bhaskar Ramesh, Head – Entertainment Sales, Digital, JioStar.

JioStar’s festive content slate is its strongest yet – with marquee non-fiction titles including Bigg Boss across 6 languages, India Ke Top 1%, Koffee with Karan, Roadies, Dhamaal with Pati Patni Aur Panga and Cooku with Comali among others. Film premieres include Dhurandhar The Revenge, Welcome to the Jungle, Drishyam 3 (Malayalam) and Blast. In addition, over 15 new South Specials will be premiering on JioHotstar through the festive period including Kaapi Squad, Part-Timers, The Court and more.

From building consideration on TV with high-impact content and extending engagement into digital and commerce, JioStar gives brands multiple ways to show up, stay relevant, driving growth through the season.

Other Key Findings from the JioStar Playbook:

  • TV drives incremental discovery: TV-only audiences recorded a ~2x search incidence index. 181 in male-focused categories and 202 in female-focused categories, against a UGC digital-video-only benchmark of 100`
  • The right audiences, not just more audiences: JioStar TV viewers over-index as category buyers versus UGC audiences, delivering up to 1.6x more fabric-care buyers, 1.5x more hair-styling buyers and 1.43x more ready-to-eat food buyers among affluent audiences“
  • Megablast on JioStar’s TV Network is built for impact: JioStar Megablast delivered 450 Cr+ views a day and 365 Mn+ daily viewers, with previous campaigns driving approximately 1.5x higher search interest, 2x growth in app downloads and more than 2x spikes in search interest^
  • Premium content, premium engagement: On JioHotstar, audiences spend 6x longer per session and are 2.8x more likely to complete content than on the leading UGC platform, translating into 1.5-2x stronger brand equity for advertisers^^
  • Launchpad on JioHotstar amplifies business outcomes: Launchpad drove a 1.4x uplift in aided awareness and a 1.42x uplift in purchase intent for a leading e-commerce platform’

Click here to access the JioStar Festive Playbook.

*****

About JioStar

Perched firmly at the nucleus of spellbinding content and innovative technology, JioStar is a leading global media and entertainment company that is reimagining the way audiences consume entertainment and sports. Its television network and streaming service together reach more than 800 million viewers every week, igniting the dreams and aspirations of hundreds of millions of people across geographies.