IPL 2023: JioCinema clocks 147 crore views and 5 crore new app downloads in first weekend

Viacom18-owned JioCinema, the official streamer of IPL 2023, has had a blockbuster opening weekend, clocking 147 crore video views across three days. This, the platform claims, is higher than the digital viewership of the entire last season (IPL 2022) which was streamed on Disney+ Hotstar. “The number of video viewers for the first weekend alone on JioCinema eclipsed what was recorded across the entire last season of TATA IPL on digital. This was also higher than the ICC T20 World Cup 2022,” JioCinema shared in a statement. 

In the season-opening match between Chennai Super Kings and defending champions Gujarat Titans, JioCinema clocked a peak concurrency of 1.6 crore viewers. It also recorded more than 2.5 crore app downloads in a single day. Overall new viewership for the opening weekend stood at 10 crore, while new app downloads crossed 5 crore. “Fans continued to lap up unique features like 4K feed, 12-language coverage, 16 unique feeds, hype mode, and multicam setup, among others,” according to the company. 

Despite initial glitches on the app, as reported by several users, average time spent per viewer per match touched 57 minutes. This is a 60 per cent increase compared to last season’s first weekend on Hotstar. 

Anil Jayaraj, CEO of Viacom18 Sports, shared, “These numbers are exceptional and evidence of the digital revolution sweeping through the country. Digital is targetable, addressable and interactive. Unlike legacy services, measurement 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.”

For IPL 2023, JioCinema has made free match streams available in regional languages like Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Odiya, and Gujarati for the first time. This is in addition to the usual English, Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada streams. “What we witnessed through the opening weekend of IPL 2023 is a testimony of the faith viewers have shown in JioCinema’s offerings to make the league more accessible, affordable, and in unique first-time cricket broadcast languages,” Jayaraj added. 

In terms of advertiser interest, JioCinema is estimated to garner more than 60 per cent of ad sales this IPL season (with the remaining going to TV). More than 20 brands across consumer segments have partnered with JioCinema. These include Dream11, JioMart, PhonePe, Amazon, Rapido, RuPay, Tiago EV, Appy Fizz, ET Money, Castrol, TVS, Oreo, Bingo, Sting, AJIO, Haier, Louis Philippe Jeans,, Ultra Tech Cement, Puma, Kamla Pasand, Kingfisher Power Soda, and Jindal Panther TMT Rebar.

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