India’s JioCinema broke the record for the highest number of concurrent viewers for live-streamed events on Monday, beating the previous record established by Disney’s Hotstar in the same way that Asian billionaire Mukesh Ambani will not spare a dime in expanding his online business.
The Indian streaming service, which is owned by James Murdoch’s Bodhi tree-backed Viacom18 it drew nearly 33 million concurrent viewers during the final match on the 16th anniversary of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament, which featured Chennai Super Kings versus Gujarat Titans.
It was a great high moment for Hotstar the platform, it drew an astounding 25.3 million simultaneous viewers to the cricket game in July the record remained unchallenged over the course of several years. But, as Hotstar shifted its IPL streaming services to a pay-per-view format, it struggled to beat this record over the next few years, which highlighted the challenges in balancing reach and income within the streaming market.
Read More:- How does Jio give free streaming of the IPL?
Following Hotstar’s strategy in the past, Viacom18 is seemingly steering its course on the same path. The Indian entertainment company which is the biggest investor of Ambani’s Reliance in a strategic move in the last year was able to win the bidding war of $3 billion against Disney and secured the digital rights to the well-known IPL for five years through 2027.
In line with its strategy for streaming Viacom18’s JioCinema application is providing streaming for free of the event to viewers all over South Asia, a move which could change the South Asian region’s digital streaming landscape according to analysts.
