MUMBAI: Novi Digital Entertainment Private Limited, the Star India subsidiary that owns video streaming platform Hotstar, believes that it can reach the ambitious, never-seen before figure of 300 million in viewership during IPL 2019.
In that eventuality, it will be a nearly 50% increase from the last season, which saw a record 202 million viewers in the tournament won by Chennai Super Kings. BCCI honorary acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary claimed at a press conference in the city recently that the IPL 2018 was more exciting for fans in-stadia and watching across mediums due to 29 last-over finishes, the most in the tournament’s history.
Hotstar chief product officer Varun Narang said that it will be showcasing quality action on the field across eight regional languages while providing advertisers with unique marketing opportunities for fan engagement. The OTT giant has already revealed its plans to offer advertisers with 24 different cohorts during the live matches, something never seen before in any part of the world across sports.
“In India, cricket is a very intrinsic part of our fabric and IPL over the years has become one of the largest sporting events globally. Last season alone, an astounding 202 million viewers watched IPL on Hotstar, and we expect this number to grow tremendously this year,” Narang was quoted as saying in a media interaction.
“The joy of watching cricket is multiplied manifold in the company of friends and family, something that’s becoming increasingly difficult to do today. We wanted to introduce something special to protect that ethos, and added the interactive, social layer to enhance the cricket watching experience. With a strong technology backbone, and an engaging experience for the viewers coupled with disruptive marketing solutions for brands, we are extremely excited to bring IPL on Hotstar like never before.”
Hotstar also launched its regular, annual promotional campaign for the IPL on Friday with the motto of ‘Koi Yaar Nahi Far’ this season, emphasizing on its innovation of a social cricket-watching experience. This includes fans getting to invite friends and family to watch live IPL matches on the web platform as well as play the Watch N’Play game together. Winners in the game can redeem their points for exciting prices courtesy Amazon Pay.
Food delivery app Swiggy has also come on board as an exclusive partner to ensure that users don’t miss a single moment of the cricketing action this season. Favourites from the Swiggy Pop menu can be ordered directly from within the Hotstar app, making it extremely convenient for cricket fans across the country.
