JioCinema clocks over 1,300 cr views in first 5 weeks of IPL

JioCinema, in a press release today, announced that the streaming platform had registered record viewership for the 2023 edition of the Tata Indian Premier League.

IPL 2023 clocked over 1300+ crore views in its first five weeks, with the viewers spending an average time of 60 minutes per match.

In its opening weekend, the platform reported that the tournament clocked in 147 crore views, trumping the entire viewership of the prior season combined on Hotstar.

Anil Jayaraj, the Viacom18 Sports CEO, expressed pride at the platform’s massive growth.

“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,” he said.

The IPL also saw its concurrency records broken twice on JioCinema. First, on April 12th, in a game between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, the concurrency was clocked at 2.23 crore. The second, on April 17th, was in a match between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore, with the recorded concurrency sitting at 2.4 crores.

Hotstar, in comparison, had a record of 87 lakh viewers in a game between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The Vicacom18 Sports CEO attributed this record-breaking success to “outstanding cricket action” and the streaming platform’s robustness. In addition to these, success was also credited to increased fan engagement on digital, as well as the exclusive partnerships JioCinema has in place with Gujarat Titans, Mumbai Indians, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Delhi Capitals. The exclusive partnership allows the platform to interview top players like Virat Kohli, Rashid Khan and Hardik Pandya, further boosting viewership and engagement.

The massive difference in viewership between the JioCinema and Hotstar editions of the Indian Premier League can be attributed to JioCinema being free compared to Hotstar, which charged a minimum of Rs 299 per month.

Viacom18 acquired the streaming rights for IPL for five years (2023-2027) for Rs 23,758 crore ($2.89 billion). The rights were previously held by Disney, which would stream the tournament on Hotstar. BCS Bureau