Tadka, the microdrama platform within India’s leading streamer JioHotstar, has over 100 million users and has established premium short-form content as a mainstream entertainment category in India.
Since launch, Tadka’s daily watch time per viewer has increased five times, reflecting continued engagement with the format. More than 42% of the service’s viewership comes from viewers 24 and under, with viewers in metropolitan areas and secondary cities each accounting for nearly 40% of total watch time. The company said this distribution demonstrates the growing demand for premium, mobile-first storytelling that fits into everyday entertainment habits.
” Crossing 100 million users is not just a milestone for Tadka; it represents a larger turning point in the evolution of streaming,” said Anbuj Kashyap, Executive VP, Microcontent, JioStar. “Consumer behavior is expanding beyond traditional viewing formats, creating new opportunities for storytelling to naturally fit into more moments throughout the day. What we are seeing is the emergence of premium microcontent as a meaningful new entertainment category. Our engagement reinforces our belief that this format can unlock new creative possibilities, new audiences, and new growth opportunities for the industry. We remain focused on building the category through compelling storytelling, product innovation, and a rapidly evolving creator ecosystem.”
This milestone also restructures where content is created. As demand for microdramas increases, productions are expanding beyond traditional entertainment hubs, with filming taking place across Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, Indore, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai, the company said, adding that this shift is widening both the range of voices in Indian content and the spread of production activity across the country.
Launched within JioHotstar with over 100 original titles, Tadka features vertical episodic stories ranging from 30 seconds to 60 seconds, designed for mobile-first consumption of stories rooted in everyday emotions, relationships and contemporary Indian culture. Romance, drama, thrillers, comedy, sports, and stories featuring young people are featured in multiple languages including Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.
The service forms part of JioHotstar’s broader efforts to build entertainment experiences around evolving consumer behavior, alongside interactive commerce, second-screen experiences and other product-driven innovations. JioHotstar serves an average of over 500 million users per month and maintains a library of over 300,000 hours of programming across 19 languages.
