IPL 2023 hits 449 million views on Viacom18: Report

Viacom's CEO Anil Jayaraj revealed IPL viewership at RCB Innovation Lab’s Leaders Meet India.

Jayaraj revealed that the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 tournament garnered 449 million viewers overall including 120 million connected TV consumers on its platform, as reported by News 18.

RCB Innovation Lab’s Leaders Meet India gathered influential figures across diverse sectors of the sports industry to delve into the dynamics of leadership within the continually changing landscape of sports. The event concluded on November 30, 2023 in Bengaluru.

He highlighted an AI and digitally propelled future for sports broadcasting in India, stating, “There is nothing of the scale of IPL anywhere in the world. The paid TV universe in this country is expected to be about 100 million so for us to pick 120 million users on connected TV was quite remarkable in year one. Technology is going to make a major change as far as the digital landscape goes."

"Digital is where the innovation seems to be happening, especially in India with the number of mobile connections, 4G phones, data and the pure behaviour around linear viewing interactively. The use of technologies like AI will dramatically change our production of content and automation”, he added.

Focusing on advancing women's sports, Jayaraj delved into the remarkable traction gained by the Women’s Premier League (WPL) among viewers, advertisers and investors.

“What we have seen significantly is that the interest (of WPL), the crowd enthusiasm was phenomenal. The key thing for us was also the quality of production that BCCI put out. For advertisers, it gives them an opportunity to target a very different demographic and that makes a lot of difference from a financial sort of sense for somebody like us who is investing,” he commented.

He also highlighted the increasing significance of consuming sports beyond cricket, expressing hope that the upcoming Paris Olympics will reshape that narrative.

“Hopefully, if we start seeing a lot more Indian athletes win, things will certainly change. That is why we are extremely hopeful of the Olympics. We believe that this is possibly going to be our best-ever performance as a country and I am sure that will be quite a breakthrough”, he said.

Jayaraj highlighted that Indian sports viewership heavily favors live content, with 99% tuning in online, leaving only 1% for highlights, non-live content, and documentaries. He expressed strong optimism about the burgeoning market for sports documentaries and docu-series in India, predicting substantial growth over the next four or five years.