Lionsgate has sold its streaming service Lionsgate Play in India and Southeast Asia to Rohit Jain, who built and scaled the platform across the Asia region over the past eight years in his capacity as president of Lionsgate Play Asia. This marks a shift toward founder-led ownership as the platform prepares for its next phase of growth in a crowded OTT market.
The transaction leaves all other Lionsgate film and television businesses in the region with the studio, while Lionsgate Play will continue to license the Lionsgate brand and studio content under a multi-year agreement. Jain will exit Lionsgate to focus fully on the streaming service. Exact terms of the deal were not known at the time of filing the report.
Backdrop of the move
The move comes as Lionsgate Play sharpens its India strategy, transitioning from a niche Hollywood-focused service to a broader entertainment platform. The platform has announced over 100 premieres for 2026 across Hollywood, Hindi, and regional languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada titles. Its slate features international films such as Greenland: Migration, Mutiny, and Kiss of the Spider Woman, alongside expanded local programming.
“Lionsgate Play has established itself as a leading destination for Hollywood content in India and is now positioned to expand well beyond that,” said Jain.
Sources estimate Lionsgate has invested around $100 million in the platform, which currently has bout 5 million subscribers and has reached more than 40 million viewers in India since launch.
What do industry observers say?
Industry watchers, meanwhile, say founder ownership could allow faster decision-making and sharper curation.
“Founder-led ownership fundamentally changes the game for Lionsgate Play,” said Ambika Sharma, founder and chief strategist at Pulp Strategy. “With Jain’s regional depth and Lionsgate’s continued content licensing, the platform can move from being a satellite OTT to a focused, premium Asia-first product.”
However, analysts caution that success will depend on how quickly the platform localises its content mix. “There is a complete shift in content consumption, where people are increasingly liking Asian and local content,” said Somendu Singh, chief contributor at CTV Scale. “If they go with local content of each language, then definitely something can work out for them. Otherwise, it will be difficult to sustain independently.”
Rajat Agrawal, COO and director at Ultra Media & Entertainment Group, echoed the view, noting that localisation will be key to unlocking growth. “International content is still a growing market, but localisation will play a very big part,” he said, adding that sharper marketing and regional programming could help the platform attract more eyeballs post-acquisition.
The acquisition underlines the broader challenge facing mid-sized OTT players in India, where relevance and cultural proximity are increasingly trumping pure scale.