This year’s IPL has not only brought about a battle between the city teams, it’s also a fight between linear & connected TV (CTV)!
What’s interesting to note is that CTV has seen more than 35mn viewers, while HD has less than 20mn.
The IPL game between CSK and RR saw a record-breaking 2.2 crore concurrent viewership on JioCinema, with people tuning in to watch the biggest brand of the IPL, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, taking the game down to the very last ball!
That’s almost a whopping 100 percent increase from their previous record of 1.27 crore. And the reasons are very clear –
1. Convenience and accessibility at 0 cost to the viewer, besides the cost of data
2. Multi-camera experience that adds a new dimension to the watching experience
3. Regional language commentary has brought on a new set of viewing audiences who can for the first time enjoy the IPL in a language of their choice
With more and more people being on-the-go, the app viewing experience has really propelled the total addressable #IPL2023 viewing audiences into the next level. It’s a sheer master stroke by Jio to stream the entire IPL free of cost in return for a few data points of the viewer, which will add to their pool of first-party data (FPD). This is the 3rd live sporting event that they’re streaming for free after the FIFA World Cup and Women’s Premier League (WPL).
With digital advertising on IPL already set to surpass the television ads spends for the very first time, the 23,000 cr punt that Jio took on the IPL streaming rights seem to have paid off, and how!
As advertisers, our media solutions are also benefiting greatly from this change – with no friction from ad to product page, conversions are skyrocketing, at much more competitive prices compared to TV, with the benefit of end-to-end tracking of the user journey.
Stats show that there’s been a 40 percent drop in TV ads during the IPL, it’s clear that connected TVs are the way forward.
As a viewer or an advertiser – would love to know your take on the linear vs connected TV battle?
The writer is the founder and CEO of independent marketing services agency, Schbang. Views expressed are personal.