On April 4, Delhi Capitals (DC) went up against Gujarat Titans (GT) in IPL where the latter claimed its second consecutive win of this season, thus moving GT to the top of the points table.

According to the data sourced from Chrome Digital Track, on April 4, the match was watched by almost 39.2 million unique viewers across India where it managed to capture 9.5 million concurrent viewers at peak viewing times. Across the HSM (Hindi-speaking markets), the content was consumed by 31.6 million unique viewers.

In keeping up with evolving viewing habits across digital media, Chrome Data Analytics & Media recently introduced ‘Digital Track’, which measures the reach and engagement of online content. It tracks unique views to get a more comprehensive understanding of the actual number of users that have interacted with a particular content or a show, the data analytics company said.

The viewers have been gradually switching their viewing habits online. India boasts a generous market of Internet users by reaching 836 million subscriptions as of September 2022.

These numbers are projected to reach over 100 million Internet users by the end of 2025. Smartphone users stand at 510 million, while connected TVs crossed the 18 million mark as of January 2023.

Viacom18 won the digital rights for IPL (Indian Premier League) matches across India and said that  Internet users can live-stream these matches through the JioCinema app, a sister concern of Viacom18, without paying any additional subscription.

This free streaming (though data usage charges will have to be paid) has increased the reach and engagement of IPL amongst cricket enthusiasts, many of whom prefer to watch matches on their mobile devices and smart TVs.

In conclusion, this partnership between Viacom18 and the Indian cricket board has been mutually beneficial since it has helped IPL reach a wider audience while also increasing the user base of Jio’s digital services.