Disney+ Hotstar announces new show ‘Dear Ishq’

Disney+ Hotstar has announced a new show called Dear Ishq starring Sehban Azim and Niyati Fatnani that will stream on 26 January.

Disney+ Hotstar led the viewership of Hindi language OTT originals in India in 2022, according to a report by media consulting firm Ormax. The platform streamed 7 out of the top 15 most-watched original shows.

Ajay Devgn’s OTT debut Rudra: The Edge of Darkness was the most watched Hindi web show of the year with 35.2 million views on Disney+ Hotstar, followed by the third season of Aashram (34.3 million views) on MX Player, the second season of Panchayat (29.6 million views) on Amazon Prime Video, Criminal Justice: Adhura Sach (23 million views) and The Great Indian Murder (23 million views). The last two also streamed on Disney+ Hotstar.

Akshay Kumar-starrer Cuttputlli, streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, was the most-watched original Hindi film with 26.9 million views. It was followed by Yami Gautam’s A Thursday (25.5 million views) and comedy Govinda Naam Mera (24.4 million views), both on Hotstar. Karan Johar’s Gehraiyaan (22.3 million views) on Amazon Prime Video and mystery thriller Freddy starring Kartik Aaryan (20.9 million views), on Hotstar, were fourth and fifth on the list.

Ormax is a tracking, testing and analytics-led consulting firm for television and streaming services, among others. Viewership is estimated using primary research conducted among audiences across India at a weekly level.

Viewership estimates represent the number of people who watched the show (at least one full episode) or film (at least 30 minutes). It does not represent the number of accounts used for watching the same, so three members of a family, or two friends, watching on the same account are considered as unique audience -- means they are counted separately. The audience remains unduplicated and if an audience member watches episodes spread over multiple weeks, he or she is still counted only once.