India-Pak clash takes digital viewership past 10 million

Edge-of-the-seat India-Pakistan faceoff during the ongoing Asia Cup 2022 series that started from August 27 took digital viewership past the 10 million mark on streaming platform Disney+Hotstar.

With strong viewership numbers right from the start of the match, the India-Pakistan cricket rivalry saw views jumping to 8.4 million in the fourth over.

The viewership increased further to 8.7 million when all-rounder Hardik Pandya took the wicket of batsmen Mohammad Rizwan in the 14th over.

India’s bowling performance drew strong viewership on the streaming platform with views touching 9.5 million in the last over.

In the second half of the India-Pakistan match, viewership surpassed the 9.5 million mark in no time. By the third over, it touched 9.7 million. Then came Virat Kohli’s six and the viewership hit 9.9 million.

Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s partnership piqued viewer interest and by the fifth over viewership had touched the 10 million mark.

In terms of viewership, the game in the 17th over came in on par with 2021 T20 World Cup’s India-Pakistan match which had attracted 12 million viewers at its peak.

The nail-biting finish saw viewership touching 13 million in the last over.

Along with beating the T20 India-Pakistan match viewership numbers, the Asia Cup game of the two teams has broken the second highest viewership record on Disney+Hotstar. The over the top (OTT) platform had hit a record viewership of 12 million in the 12th edition of IPL (2019) during the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians which was later broken by the final match of the same season with 18 million viewership.

In addition to high viewer interest, the return of Asia Cup after a gap of four years and the tournament coinciding with the festive period is leading to high advertiser traction especially for India-Pakistan matches. Ad rates for these matches on digital is on par with 2022 season of IPL at around Rs 280 CPM (cost per thousand impressions), according to industry estimates.

Last year, Disney+ Hotstar was estimated to have recorded Rs 1,000 crore in ad revenue, up from Rs 800 crore in 2020. Money Control