In the ever-competitive world of streaming services, Disney+ Hotstar has decided to unleash a bold strategy to captivate the cricket-loving hearts of India. Following the trail blazed by its formidable adversary, JioCinema, Hotstar is set to revolutionize the game with free mobile streaming of thrilling cricket tournaments. Their aim? To entice a legion of users in the cricket-crazed nation, where the sport is nothing short of a religion.
Hotstar’s grand announcement sent shockwaves through the industry, arriving on the heels of a fierce showdown with JioCinema, which offered a free spectacle of the coveted Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on its app and website. Viacom18, in a triumphant bid, secured the digital rights for IPL for an awe-inspiring five-year span from 2023 to 2027, shelling out a staggering sum of Rs 23,578 crore in the media rights auction orchestrated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) the previous year. It was a monumental shift from the days when Disney+ Hotstar held the mantle of IPL’s digital rights, broadcasting and streaming the exhilarating tournament.
JioCinema’s audacious move, liberating the IPL stream for all to indulge in, set a breathtaking record of 1.47 billion digital views during the first weekend of the cricket extravaganza. Alas, for Hotstar, the fierce competition exacted a toll, with research firm CLSA estimating a loss of nearly 5 million subscribers in the wake of Jio’s masterstroke.
While JioCinema devises plans to monetize its content, it pledges to keep the exhilarating IPL streaming accessible to the masses, as affirmed by Jyoti Deshpande, the visionary president of Reliance’s media and content empire, in an enlightening interview with Bloomberg back in April. A move that promises to keep the cricket frenzy alive and roaring.