Jio’s new ad retrospects, while offering glimpses of future

It celebrates Jio’s last four years and 398 million user base, while sharing glimpses of Jio Platforms’ investors.

We retrospect to understand the circumstances and actions that led to our present state. Say, for instance, when (the late) Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, or Ratan Tata unveiled the world’s cheapest ‘Nano’ car. These events shaped the future course of people’s lives.

A new ad from four-year-old Jio, the telecom company under Jio Platforms, tries to evoke this feeling. The ad celebrates how people accepted Jio with open arms, how it managed to influence and change the way people consume stuff online, and thanks every one of its 398 million-strong user base.

In 2016, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) launched Jio, which offered free data and voice services. Jio went on to become India’s largest mobile network.

At first, the ad will seem like a celebration, but watch it closely, and you will get a glimpse of Jio Platforms’ future plans. Over the last few months, it saw investments from a slew of investors, such as PIF, Facebook, Google, KKR, General Atlantic, etc.

We see glimpses of Satya Nadella (Microsoft), Sundar Pichai (Google), and Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) in the ad. As per a September 5 LiveMint report, “They (the investors) helped RIL amass a total of ₹1.52 trillion in the past few months by picking up a combined 33 per cent stake in its digital unit Jio Platforms.”

Last weekend, JioFiber, the leading broadband network, announced plans where it offered not just high-speed Internet, but also 4K set-top box, and over 10 OTT apps bundled in (you don’t need to own individual subscriptions because it’s all included in the monthly fee you pay).

In a previous story that detailed Facebook’s investment in Jio Platforms, we (afaqs!) wrote, “Late last year, (Mukesh) Ambani had initiated the formation of a subsidiary Jio Platforms, which would house all the initiatives related to the telecom venture.”

These (the initiatives) include Jio TV, which streams live television; Jio Cinema, which offers movies and episodic series; and JioSaavn, which offers audio streaming, among other things. It also includes distribution networks like Den Networks and Hathway, in which the group has a majority stake.