Fans and viewers are being “presented a treat” as JioStar assembles the biggest TATA IPL ever.
Ahead of the 18th IPL edition’s opening fixture on Saturday between Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (which RCB won), JioStar announced a presentation with 25+ feeds in 12 languages across linear TV and digital, brought alive by more than 170 experts that includes IPL champions, World Cup winners from India and across the world.
On TV, in addition to the English feed, the network is providing coverage in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada across JioStar Network, while on digital, the 18th season is being streamed live across 16 feeds, including 12 languages: English, Hindi, Marathi, Haryanvi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Gujarati and Punjabi.
In addition to the language options, the live streaming on JioHotstar is being complemented by multi-cam feeds, Hangout feed, first-of-its kind feed designed for young audiences and family called ‘Motu Patlu present Super Funday’.
In a never-seen-before avatar, one of the world’s most accomplished batsmen New Zealander Kane Williamson will make his debut as a commentator and expert in IPL. The first New Zealand player to win the orange cap and two-time IPL champion played with Gujarat Titans until last season.
The addition of IPL champion Shane Watson, former Mumbai Indians head coach Mark Boucher and his compatriot and RCB icon AB DeVilliers, former Punjab Kings mentor Virender Sehwag, former Punjab Kings skipper Shikhar Dhawan, former Chennai Super Kings star Suresh Raina, will further deepen JioStar’s key proposition of providing fans inside access from key members who until recently shared the dressing room with top franchisees.
After winning titles with Rajasthan Royals and CSK, Watson continues his journey in the IPL with JioStar. The line-up also includes former IPL captains and players, including Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Murali Vijay, Kedar Jadhav across multiple language feeds. Father-son duo of Anirudh Srikkanth and K Srikkanth will feature together in the Tamil expert’s panel. Manvinder Bisla, man of the match of the 2012 IPL Final, will be the face of the Haryanvi feed.
In the continuous endeavour to give fans and viewers immersive experience, JioStar is creating a touchpoint for second screen-engagement. While watching the action live on Linear TV, if viewers miss out on key moments, they will get an option to scan a QR code and catch the key moment on their mobile phone on JioHotstar.
Making the viewing experience inclusive and ensuring fans and viewers can enjoy the cricket carnival in their own way, MaxView, live audio descriptive and Indian sign language will make their IPL debut on JioHotstar. Multi-cam feed will continue to give viewers on JioHotstar options to watch IPL from different angles with fan-favourite hero cam coming back along with stump cam, batter cam, and bird’s eye cam among others.
The 18th season of IPL will see the return of digital-exclusive and popular Hangout feed, and newly-introduced ‘Motu Patlu present Super Funday’. The special kids’ feed will feature cartoon characters Motu and Patlu as commentators, bringing a fresh, playful, and exciting twist to the IPL experience.
The Hangout feed will give fans a light-hearted and quirky take on the perennially competitive league through new-age content creators and popular stand-up comics like Angad Singh, Kunal Saluja, Sahiba Bali, Inder Sahni, Shubham Shandilya, and Aditya Kulshreshta among others. This feed will present quintessential TATA IPL action that is expected to draw first-time viewers and non-sports audience and augment the league’s viewership.
Through the 18th season, JioStar will put together an exciting slate of content for fans around IPL icons and captains including MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sanju Samson, Jasprit Bumrah, Pat Cummins among others.
