IPL 2023: Who's winning the viewership game - JioCinema or Disney Star?

The Indian Premier League is arguably one of the most watched and profitable sporting events in the world. As the cricket tournament scales new heights with each season, the competition among broadcasters—digital and traditional—to grab eyeballs is becoming fiercer.

In the first few weeks of play, Tata IPL 2023—currently being telecast and streamed by media networks Star Sports (Disney Star) and Reliance-promoted JioCinema—has already smashed many viewership records, claim both the platforms. According to data from Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), official TV broadcaster Disney Star has garnered 369 million viewers, the highest in IPL history. The number was 307 million viewers for the first 10 days, which is 23 per cent more than the previous edition, the network says.

In fact, Star claims that it recorded a higher concurrency of 56 million than Jio’s 18 million, an indication that the charm of watching sports on TV is growing. “The peak concurrency, which measures the intensity of viewership, is the highest it has ever been. To say that we’ve lost audiences to digital would be incorrect and a myth,” says Sanjog Gupta, Head of Sports at Disney Star. According to Gupta, there might also be an overlap of audiences watching both TV and digital. And, going forward, “the overlap will increase further,” he says. In digital, “retention is a problem”. Small screen (digital) doesn’t lend itself to long session engagement, says Gupta, adding that TV has lesser frequency but much higher retention.

However, Jio asserts that the average time spent per viewer per match on JioCinema increased by over 60 per cent compared to last season’s first weekend. JioCinema, a part of Viacom18, clocked over 1,470 million video views, recording the highest-ever viewership during opening weekend for the Tata IPL on digital, says Anil Jayaraj, CEO of Viacom18 Sports. Moreover, the number of video viewers on JioCinema in the first weekend of IPL 2023 alone, has crossed the entire last season’s digital figure. Not only that, it is also higher than the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 number.

“These numbers are exceptional and evidence of the digital revolution sweeping through the country,” adds Jayaraj. “Digital is targetable, addressable and interactive. 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. The landscape for content consumption has irrevocably moved to digital and JioCinema’s performance this week is the biggest evidence of it,” he says.

While both the media houses lay claim to winning the viewership battle, the jury is still out, with more than half of the matches yet to be played in the two-month-long cricket extravaganza. As they say, it’s not over till it’s over.

@PLidhoo