The ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) has put the spotlight firmly on the debate over television versus digital viewership, following two networks — Disney Star and Viacom18 — broadcasting the tournament this year.
Disney Star is the official TV broadcaster, while Viacom18 has the streaming rights of the tournament, both for a period of five years (2023-27) each. Viacom18 is also streaming the IPL for free this year on its JioCinema app in a bid to grow viewership on its platform. Disney Star has also pulled out all the stops to give the IPL a wider reach, broadcasting the tournament across channels within its network.
Given the high profile of the IPL, among the world’s most valuable sporting properties, both Disney Star and Viacom18 have been vocal about the growth in viewership on TV and digital this year, since the start of the T20 tournament on March 31.
On Tuesday, Viacom18 said that JioCinema had touched a concurrent viewership of 24 million for the Chennai Super Kings versus Royal Challengers Bangalore match held on Monday (April 17). This was the highest ever on JioCinema, breaking its own previous concurrent viewership record of 22 million achieved during the Chennai Super Kings versus Rajasthan Royals match on April 12.
The broadcaster has already indicated that JioCinema has seen over 5.5 billion video views of the IPL so far, ahead of the 1.47 billion video views registered during the opening weekend of the tournament. But is TV far behind? Far from it, say experts.
Data by the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (Barc) for the first 10 matches of the ongoing IPL edition supports the view that TV viewership is growing.
Over 300 million TV viewers tuned in to watch the first 10 matches of the IPL this year on Disney Star, Barc data show, with the watch time or consumption on TV amounting to 62.30 billion minutes for the period. The television rating (TVR) among affluent male urban sports audiences had grown by over 25% during the period, Barc data show.
“I am not surprised with these numbers. TV was always the go-to medium for the IPL. What is heartening to note is that because of the aggressive marketing by the two broadcasters, Disney Star and Viacom18, the overall viewership of IPL has grown,” Vikram Sakhuja, group CEO Madison Media and OOH at media agency Madison World, said.
Barc data sourced from the industry show that there are roughly 220 million TV homes in India, of which around 40-45 million are those who watch free-to-air channels. The balance 175-180 million homes are those who pay for watching TV channels. This universe of pay TV homes is roughly split into half for cable & satellite and direct-to-home, say sector experts.
While the pay TV universe (of 175-180 million) is around 25-26% of the active internet base in India, which is pegged at around 700 million, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), some experts say that TV is a more focused medium than digital when it comes to consumption of entertainment or sports content. Typically, people have access to internet in India through their mobile phones, say experts, owing to the growing penetration of smartphones as well as reasonably priced data plans.
Barc data show that roughly around 3.5-4 hours a day is the total time spent on TV. In contrast, a recent RedSeer report notes that Indians spend around 7.3 hours a day on their smartphones, but they could be doing multiple things — from online messaging to shopping, browsing, chatting, tweeting or watching online content.
“Television is a medium that will not vanish so easily,” explains Sajal Gupta, chief executive officer of Gurugram-based media consultancy Kiaos Marketing.
“For a number of people across the country, television is a medium of mass entertainment, where typically you will find people sitting around the TV set watching shows or live action sports. Most of them will also hold their mobile phones in their hands, but it acts as a secondary medium,” he says.
This point is reiterated by Sanjog Gupta, head of sports at Disney Star. He says, “Television continues to be the preferred medium for uninterrupted viewing of live cricket. All other media including digital are a complement to TV.”
Of course, Viacom18 has its point to present in the TV versus digital debate. On Tuesday, it said that consistent new viewership records on JioCinema were evidence of the preference of cricket fans to watch the IPL on the digital platform.
“JioCinema’s viewership records come on the back of several fan-centric offerings such as free streaming across all network subscribers, 4K streaming, 12-language commentary and free-to-play contests with exciting prizes for every match,” it said.