The playoffs of the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League saw record viewership, Disney Star said on Thursday, with the broadcaster registering a 44% increase in ratings compared with the previous year.
Until the finals, the live broadcast of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on television saw 496 million viewers and 40.9 billion minutes of consumption, the company said quoting data from the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC).
Disney Star, the official TV broadcaster, said the second qualifier between Gujarat Titans and Mumbai Indians on May 26 saw a peak TV concurrency of 61 million, thereby becoming the highest rated playoffs match in the history of the tournament.
Digital streaming of the T20 tournament on JioCinema saw more than 120 million unique viewers for the final game between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans on May 29, with a peak concurrency of 32 million, the platform said.
The close clash, held in the 1,30,000-person capacity Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, saw popular veteran Mahendra Singh Dhoni lead Chennai Super Kings to a fifth league title.
Viewership was likely boosted by speculation the final would be 41-year-old Dhoni’s last professional appearance, though the former Indian captain signalled he would likely return to next year’s tournament.
Disney Star had bagged the television rights for the Indian subcontinent for Rs 23,575 crore and Reliance-backed Viacom18 got the digital rights for Rs 23,491 crore for the 2023-27 media cycle.
Disney Star managed to further its penetration due to the broadcasting of the tournament. While Star Sports was present in eight out of 10 paid TV homes before the IPL, the broadcaster added 11 million more paid subscribers in the first 25 days of the IPL and is now present in nine out of 10 paid TV homes in India, industry sources said.