Disney+ Hotstar set a new global live streaming viewership record on Wednesday as Virat Kohli scored a record-breaking 50th ODI century and Mohammed Shami became the first bowler to pick three five-wicket hauls in a single edition of the 50-over World Cup to guide India to the final of the tournament.
Disney’s video streaming service hit a staggering 53 million concurrent viewers, surpassing the previous record of 44m concurrent viewers, set during the India versus South Africa match on November 5.
It bears noting that in the first innings when India put on a batting masterclass led by Kohli to post 397/4, the streamer had set a new world mark of 51m concurrent viewership.
This success has been bolstered by offering free ad-supported streaming of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup and the recently concluded Asia Cup to mobile users in India. The move came after rival service JioCinema streamed the IPL tournament for free to consumers earlier this year.
“Making the Asia Cup and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup available to a wider audience, we believe, will help us grow the overall ecosystem,” Sajith Sivanandan, head of Disney+ Hotstar, had said while announcing this move in June.
The concurrent viewership record has been broken multiple times during this World Cup. No prizes for guessing that all the records were set in India games. The first instance was during the India vs Pakistan match on October 14, when the platform recorded 35m concurrent viewers. It broke the record of 32m concurrent viewers during this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) title clash between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans.
The 35m concurrent viewership record was next broken on October 22 during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 group match between India and New Zealand. Disney+ Hotstar recorded 43m concurrent viewers during the game.
It is worth noting that during the 2019 World Cup semi-final match, Hotstar set a then record with 25.3m concurrent viewers during the India vs New Zealand match.
Now that India has entered the finals, another concurrent viwership milestone can be expected on Sunday when the host nation plays Thursday’s winner of the Australia and South Africa match.
