How JioHotstar is turning streaming into a conversational AI commerce engine

It’s Sunday. You’re watching an IPL match on JioHotstar and want to order food during a tense chase. Later, while catching up on Bigg Boss, you spot an outfit you want to buy. On another day, after a difficult day at work, you ask the app to recommend something light to watch. JioHotstar wants all of these moments to happen within a single ecosystem, turning what begins as content discovery into shopping, advertising and transactions.

The platform is building what it calls a “conversational discovery” experience, where users can ask natural language questions such as “I had a bad day, what should I watch?” or “I’m travelling on a Vande Bharat for three hours, recommend a movie to download”. But behind those interactions lies a much larger playbook around shopping, advertising and consumer targeting.

“We create new product constructs that can be monetised starting day one,” Bharath Ram, chief product officer at JioHotstar, told Fortune India.

The company has partnered with OpenAI's ChatGPT to power the feature, which aims to move users away from traditional keyword searches such as “Shah Rukh Khan action recent” towards more conversational prompts based on mood, context and intent.

Ram said the technology allows the platform to understand users beyond conventional genres and viewing habits. “People are more willing to talk about themselves,” he said. “They express what sort of mental state they are in, how much time they have to watch something, and that gives us more context.”

That context, JioHotstar believes, can eventually shape commerce recommendations inside the app.

“If people are watching something on Bigg Boss, can you shop the look? Did you notice this person is wearing this branded cloth? Do you want to shop it from this platform?” Ram said. “If someone is watching cricket, maybe do you want popcorn or Pepsi to go with it?”

JioHotstar is monetising the feature through sponsored AI experiences, contextual commerce partnerships and targeted advertising. The platform has already integrated services such as Swiggy for food ordering during live matches and is experimenting with “shop the look” commerce during entertainment shows, while using viewer behaviour and conversational inputs to surface more personalised brand recommendations.

From content discovery to contextual commerce

The company has already started experimenting with commerce integrations. During live cricket matches, users were able to order food through Swiggy within the app, while viewers of Splitsvilla could shop looks through beauty and fashion platform NewMe.

According to Ram, these experiments are helping JioHotstar build proof points for advertisers and commerce partners. “If 10 million people look at something and start placing orders, this is the completion rate,” he said, referring to the data the company is now using to pitch contextual commerce opportunities.

The focus areas for such partnerships include FMCG, food delivery and fashion, categories Ram described as high-frequency purchases. The company also sees opportunities in premium products such as bikes, watches and jewellery based on viewing patterns and audience cohorts.

Sports remains a major driver of engagement. During live matches, users can already ask the AI assistant for score summaries, wickets and match highlights. By the next IPL season, JioHotstar plans to roll out predictive insights and deeper cricket statistics through its integration with ESPN Cricinfo data.

The larger ambition, however, goes beyond recommendations. JioHotstar is exploring AI-generated ads for small businesses and contextual brand placements tailored to pin codes and audience preferences.

The company believes conversational AI offers a much richer understanding of users than traditional demographic targeting. Instead of relying only on age, gender or geography, the platform can potentially understand mood, viewing intent, fandom patterns and purchase interests based on what users are watching and asking the AI assistant.

That could allow brands to target viewers far more precisely. A food delivery promotion during a live IPL chase, a fashion recommendation during a reality show, or a regional retail advertisement linked to local language content are some of the use cases JioHotstar is exploring.

Ram also pointed to opportunities for smaller advertisers. AI-generated creatives and automated ad tools could make it easier for local businesses to advertise on streaming platforms without investing heavily in production or campaign design. “This can open up an entirely new ecosystem of advertisers,” he said.

JioHotstar’s next big AI push is regional India

For JioHotstar, the AI opportunity is also deeply tied to India’s linguistic and cultural diversity. Ram said building conversational AI for Indian entertainment goes far beyond simple language translation.

“We realised very quickly that entertainment search in India is extremely nuanced,” he said. “When somebody says Bollywood, are they talking about Hindi originals or Hindi dubbed content? When somebody says Talaivar, are they referring to Rajinikanth or Dhoni?”

The company is now training its models to understand regional contexts, slang, Hinglish and culturally specific prompts that are common among Indian users. Ram said conversational patterns differ sharply across regions and cities, shaping what viewers expect from recommendations.

“Someone sitting in Mysuru may search very differently from someone in Bengaluru,” he said. “People mix languages naturally. They may type in Hinglish, Tanglish or a combination of English and regional phrases.”

After launching the feature in English and Hindi, JioHotstar plans to roll out Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam next, followed by Marathi and Bengali. Ram said the company aims to support all major Indian languages by the next IPL season. According to him, regional understanding is central to making AI discovery work at scale in India. “The technology has to understand not just the language, but the cultural context behind what users are asking,” he said.

“We are innovating across content, experience and monetisation,” Ram said. “This is only going to get bigger and bigger.”