Consumer behaviour, rather than technology, is now driving the biggest transformation in entertainment, according to Alok Jain, Head- English and Hindi Entertainment Business (Streaming, TV & Studios), JioStar, who argued that audiences have already moved beyond distinctions such as television, streaming and theatrical viewing.

In a LinkedIn post yesterday evening, the JioStar executive said the industry had spent years organising itself around platforms even though viewers “never asked for and never respected” those divisions.

“I’ve been in entertainment long enough to remember when the biggest debate in the room was ‘TV vs. digital.’ Then it became ‘linear vs. streaming’,” Jain wrote, adding, “We never stopped to ask: why are we organising ourselves around screens at all?”

He added that the “most important shift in entertainment right now isn’t purely technological”. It’s behavioural. And it’s already happened.

Jain said today’s audiences seamlessly move between formats and devices depending on their mood and context, rather than loyalty to any one platform. “The same person who watches a global prestige series on their CTV on Tuesday will catch a live television event with family on Saturday, follow a reality show on mobile during a commute, and binge a young adult drama at midnight,” he argued his hypothesis.

“That’s not four audiences with four different needs. That’s one person, living a full life, following their mood,” he expanded on his theory that has attracted several interesting observations from readers.

According to Jain, consumers are now “entirely screen-agnostic” and are guided instead by “stories, emotions and moments.” He argued that the entertainment industry’s long-standing fixation with platforms was “always our problem, not theirs,” suggesting that companies must now rethink how content is developed and distributed.

Jain linked this behavioural shift to JioStar’s upcoming programming strategy, describing it not as “a content slate” but as “a breadth of storytelling designed to meet people wherever they are.”

Among the projects he highlighted was Rajkumar Hirani’s streaming debut ‘Pritam And Pedro’, which he said would bring the filmmaker’s “signature warmth, humour and deep human connection” to JioHotstar.

He also pointed to the post-theatrical release of ‘Dhurandhar’ on JioHotstar and Star Gold, the Bhojpuri reality format ‘Bhojpuri Bawaal’ across Colors and JioHotstar, and the family entertainer ‘Bareilly Ke Bacchan’, set in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh.

Jain further cited the return of ‘Thukra Ke Mera Pyaar Season 2’ and the exclusive streaming launch of ‘House of the Dragon 3’ on JioHotstar as examples of content aimed at viewers across genres, languages and viewing contexts.

“The companies that define the next decade of Indian entertainment won’t just be the ones with the widest distribution,” Jain wrote, “They’ll be the ones who understand their audiences most intimately and have the range to meet them in every mood, every moment, on every screen.”

He concluded aptly by saying: screens will keep changing, great stories won’t.