As the IPL 2023 edition kicked off, pitting 10 teams against each other, the off-the-field media battle for eyeballs has started as well, with Disney Star and JioCinema slugging it out. Disney Star said 140 million fans tuned in for the live broadcast on the opening day of the IPL, and it saw an increase of 29 per cent in viewership ratings.
Meanwhile, JioCinema said it clocked over 147 crore video views over three days, and average time spent per viewer per match touched 57 minutes. It got a peak concurrent view of 1.6 crore views during the opening CSK vs Gujarat Titans match.
Disney Star, the official TV broadcaster of IPL, said it clocked 8.7 billion minutes of consumption on TV for the opening match, up 47 per cent growth compared to last year.
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“The massive growth in viewing time is a testament to the success of our campaign, focus on building virtues of Star Sports’ broadcast, continuing dominance of linear television as the preferred platform for uninterrupted viewing of live Cricket and, most of all, the deep relationship we share with cricket fans,” said Sanjog Gupta, Head – Sports, Disney Star.
JioCinema, the official digital streaming partner of IL, said the 147 crore video views it got was the highest-ever opening weekend for the IPL on digital. It said the average time spent per viewer per match on JioCinema stood at 57 minutes, up over 60 per cent, compared to last season’s first weekend.
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It added that over 10 crore new viewers and 5 crore new app downloads were seen during the opening weekend. “These numbers are exceptional and evidence of the digital revolution sweeping through the country. Unlike legacy services, measurement on digital is based on the exact number of people who come in to watch, and not based on subjective extrapolation from a small sample set,” said Viacom18 Sports CEO Anil Jayaraj.
Karan Taurani, Senior Vice-President, Elara Capital, said these are just the initial set of data points. “It will be critical to see how app downloads for JioCinema grow in the coming days, given that it is offering IPL for free. Average time spent of 57 minutes on JioCinema remains to be on track.
“Disney Star’s ratings in terms of consumption has grown though its on a low base. The data is only for the opening day, so one will need to see how the consumption and ratings pick up as the tournament progresses,” he added.