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The first five weeks of the ongoing 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) season racked up more than 1,300 crore (13 billion) video views on JioCinema
Confirmed:
- Average time spent per viewer per match reached 60 minutes
- Connected TV reached twice the number of viewers than on HDTV
- Chennai Super Kings’ victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore on 17th April was watched by a record peak concurrent audience of 2.4 crore (24 million) users
Context:
Viacom18, the parent company of JioCinema, landed the IPL’s digital rights for the 2023 to 2027 cycle in a ₹23,758 crore (US$3.05 billion) deal made last year. A report in February stated Viacom18 would make IPL games available to stream for free in order to generate more revenue from advertising sales.
Earlier this month, the IPL’s domestic TV rights partner Disney Star revealed that the total live viewership for this season had increased to 43.4 crore (434 million) after 38 games, making it the second-most viewed season in the competition’s history.
Comment:
“JioCinema continues to grow from strength to strength every week and it is based on clear evidence of consumer’s outright preference of catching the Tata IPL on digital,” said Anil Jayaraj, Viacom18 Sports chief executive.
Coming next:
Viacom18 will be anticipating more bumper viewership as the IPL nears its closing stages, with the playoffs beginning on 23rd May.