Ahead of the Asia Cup and ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, a new spot promotes Disney+ Hotstar's free-on-mobile offering

It emphasises the match between India and Pakistan during the Asia Cup.

Disney+ Hotstar, through a new ad, says it will stream the upcoming Asia Cup cricket tournament and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup for free, but this offering is limited only to mobile viewing.

Such news is not news because the media had reported it a while ago. Also, rival JioCinema chose the same path for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the FIFA Men’s World Cup.

The free viewing for such big-ticket tournaments will bring in eyeballs, and the video streamer will target these free viewers to convert them into paid subscribers.

What should be is news is Disney+ Hotstar's ad referencing to the ‘five-minute free viewing’. Video streamers often let a non-subscriber watch a few minutes of a match before asking them to subscribe.

This busting of the thought was necessary. Many viewers would have stayed away from Disney+ Hotstar during these cricket tournaments; they would assume the free streaming was for a short duration.