Disney+ Hotstar is the streaming service everyone is looking towards, as the streaming giant owned by Disney is live streaming the IPL 2020 season on their app. Zee5 is another streaming service that provides original content including new shows, movies and exclusive content.
Here we put them against each other to see which one wins the fight of the streaming giants.
Read More: Zee5 vs Amazon Prime Video: Which is Hot?
User Interface (UI)
The UI for the Hotstar App is pretty simple and is categorised mainly into 5 segments. Home, TV, Disney+, Sports and News.
The Home tab shows you recommendations and new releases. The TV tab has a select number of channels and you can watch the content of these channels on the app itself. The Disney+ Tab is basically the best section of the app where original content from Marvel, Disney, etc is all streamed. The sports tab is where the IPL is streamed along with highlights available later after the match has ended. Not only cricket, but the app also does show events related to various other sports like Football, F1 Racing, Esports, Hockey, etc. The News tab live streams news from channels like Aaj Tak, India News, ABP News, etc.
The Zee5 app has more categories on top as it also has the ability to broadcast live channels So it categorises content so you can watch News, Kids content, Music, Live TV, etc. There’s a limited number of live channels available on the app. Same as the Hotstar app, the Home tab here shows recommendations and new releases. The other tabs on the top are pretty self explanatory.
Both the apps have search functionality so you can search for your favourite movies or shows easily.
The Zee5 app is available Playstore and iOS platform. You can also view it by logging in to their website.
Hotstar has an Android TV app, Apple TV app, Fire TV app, Samsung & LG Smart TV app, and Chromecast support for big-screen viewing. And has apps on iOS and Android platforms too. You can also login to their websites for viewing their content.
Features
The Zee5 app has content based across 12 languages, including English, Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Odiya, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Punjabi. You also get the option to download free shows and movies. The free shows or movies you download have a validity of 48 hours.
According to Hotstar, Most of their shows/movies expire after 7 days of download and if you start watching any of these downloaded content, they will expire within 48 hrs. These videos can be downloaded only once. Though, there are no restrictions on the number of times you can download Disney and Hotstar Specials content.
The Hotstar app also has Dolby sound available on the latest App on Android TV, Fire TV, and Apple TV. The app supports content across 8 languages which are Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Marathi, English, and Kannada.
7 multiplex movies out of which 4 are already available on the app, are also exclusive to the Hotstar app. But you will have to buy a subscription to access premium content and these blockbusters, about which we will talk later in the article. You can also watch Marvel movies like Avengers Endgame, Captain Marvel, etc on the app itself as they are Disney and Marvel exclusive movies.
Zee5 also has original content from AltBalaji, and some premium movies too which are exclusively available on the app. Premium shows like Abhay 2, Forbidden Love, Omerta, etc are available on the app.
Price
The Zee5 is available has 2 subscription options with total 5 plan options.
It has a Club Membership option where you pay Rs 365 for a yearly subscription, and it will give you access to select content from Zee5, but not all content. You will also get access to TV serials a day early than when they will be broadcasted on TV. It will let you watch Zee5 on 2 devices simultaneously.
The premium membership has 4 plan options, where you pay Rs 99 for 30 days, Rs 299 for 90 days, Rs 599 for 180 days, and Rs 699 for a year. This subscription gives you access to all of the Zee5 content. This will let you watch Zee5 on 5 devices simultaneously.
Hotstar has two subscription plans. The VIP subscription which will cost you Rs 399 for a year and it will let you stream IPL 2020 on your account. It will also give you access to the 7 multiplex movies, Hotstar Specials, and Disney+ Dubbed Movies (not the original English ones). Streaming Quality for the content is restricted to 720p and you can watch only on 1 screen at a time.
The premium subscription on the other hand will cost you Rs 299 for a monthly subscription and Rs 1499 for an annual subscription. This will give you access to all of the Hotstar content American TV Shows, Hollywood movies, Ad-free experience which is not available in the VIP subscription. Streaming Quality is 1080p under this subscription and you can watch on 2 screens simultaneously.
The free subscription gives you access to almost nothing, restricts the quality to 480p and you can watch only on 1 screen at a time.
For the best experience, you must have a subscription for the Hotstar app.
Both the applications offer original content and some live channels but Hotstar offers a better overall experience with their app, a wider range of content, and quality of the content is much better on Disnet+ Hotstar and maybe that is why Hotstar has a much bigger user base than Zee5.