In the run-up to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, JioHotstar had to court advertisers heavily for two reasons: The ad market was slow, and the perceived general apathy towards one-day cricket. India’s smooth entry into the finals on Sunday has, however, changed all that. It has opened up a 4-day window for the ICC media rights holder to push the remaining 20% ad inventory at a significant mark-up.
According to industry experts, the broadcaster-streamer is looking at an 80% jump in connected TV (a television or device that streams video over the internet) rates and a 25% jump in linear TV (traditional TV) rates for India’s Sunday outing.
At the start of the series, JioStar was asking for Rs 18-20 lakh per 10 second for TV and Rs 500 per CPM (cost per million impressions) on digital. For non-India matches, the asking rate was Rs 12-14 lakh per 10 second slot for HD and SD TV, and around Rs 250-350 per CPM for digital. On CTV, ad rates are between Rs 5 and Rs 7 lakh per 10 seconds.
The India-Pakistan match slots were sold far higher, say industry sources.
While television viewership numbers for the tournament are not available, JioStar is banking on the massive viewer interest on digital to see it through. On March 4, the day India beat Australia at the first semi-finals held at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, the peak concurrency — which is the highest number of viewers during a live stream — on JioHotstar was at 669 million viewers.
This number is close to 20 times higher than the previous record of 35 million peak concurrency set during the 2023 ICC World Cup India versus Pakistan clash on the erstwhile Disney+ Hotstar.
A week before that, on February 23, the Champions Trophy clash between India and Pakistan drew 600 million+ live viewers on the platform.
Industry observers point out that some new advertisers such as Amazon have entered the scene for the Champions Trophy final with India’s participation.
JioStar expects to earn Rs 1,500-1,800 crore in ad revenues from the 19-day cricketing extravaganza.