JioCinema app has become part of Viacom18 portfolio, says TV18 Broadcast

JioCinema app has become a part of Viacom18, a subsidiary of TV18 Broadcast which is owned by Reliance Industries Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani. TV18 Broadcast on Monday released its Q4FY23 results and said the inclusion of the JioCinema app with Viacom18 will help the company play a leading role in the country's transformation to a streaming-first approach.

RIL-backed Viacom18 has also completed the transaction for a strategic partnership with Bodhi Tree Systems, which is a platform of James Murdoch's Lupa Systems and former Star and Disney India chairman Uday Shankar. With this, Viacom18 has now access to Rs 15,145 crore cash which the company said will be instrumental in creating a compelling content offering for consumers across the country.

"Uday Shankar and James Murdoch will provide strategic and operational guidance to the company, leveraging their track record of building iconic media businesses. Uday Shankar has been appointed to the Board of Viacom18," TV18 Broadcast said.

Launched in September 2016, JioCinema's content library includes films, web series, music videos, television shows, documentaries, and sports. JioCinema is currently streaming IPL games without any charge. IPL got a record-breaking 1.47 billion video views on JioCinema on the opening weekend and the number of digital video viewers on the first weekend surpassed what was recorded across the complete season last year, according to TV18.

The platform set a new engagement benchmark with 57 minutes per viewer per match, an increase of over 60 per cent compared to last season's first weekend, the statement said. Over 100 million new viewers came on the opening weekend driven by the extensive fan-centric features like 4K feed, 16 unique feeds, hype mode, and multi-cam setup, among others.

For the first time, the event is being brought to viewers in the 12 most widely spoken languages across the country, including Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, and Oriya. "With 25mn+ downloads, JioCinema set a record for the most installed app in a single day," the company said. "It was downloaded more than 50mn times across the opening weekend."

Viacom18 was also the destination of the inaugural season of WPL (Women's Premier League). The final match of the event saw more than 10 million new viewers tune in on JioCinema, the highest viewership for any women's event globally. The event clocked more than 50 minutes of watch time per user per match and had more than 50 advertisers.