JioCinema to stream Paris Olympics 2024 for free; expects to reach 150 million views

After streaming two editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for free, JioCinema will now also make the Paris Olympics 2024 accessible to all. The streaming platform will not be placing the sporting event behind a paywall. It expects the event to reach 150 million views. 

Speaking at ‘Hall of Flame – The Olympics Masterclass’ during Goafest 2024, Chandan Roy, AVP - Revenue Management, Viacom18 Media, said its ambition is to make this the most watched Olympics yet. He shared that until the last time it used to range around 10-15 million views.

“We transformed how people access major tournaments like the Olympics, IPL, and FIFA, which were traditionally behind subscription paywalls. Now, we make these events available to every viewer, contributing to our impressive 275 million average monthly active users, even during the non-IPL period.”

The platform will be offering 23 feeds in total- five curated and 18 direct feeds. The five curated feeds will include two exclusive feeds for Indian participants. These will also be available in Tamil and Telugu. The third feed will be for global sports (where Indians are not participating, but there is interest in the sport. For example, football). The fourth feed will be women-centric that will focus on Indian women athletes and will be available in English and Hindi. Meanwhile, the fifth feed will be an artistic sports feed and will be available only in English. 

“This is more of an experiment because there are certain sports that fall into a very different category, like figure skating and break dance,” said Roy.

Then there will be 18 concurrent feeds directly from the Olympics which will cover all the 45 sporting disciplines being played at that point of time. JioCinema will dynamically update the icons on the app to reflect whichever Olympic sport is live at the moment. As a viewer, when one logs in, it will appear as if the app is organised by sport, ensuring easy access to live events. 

JioCinema is offering advertisers several formats to associate with the Olympics. Advertisers can make use of split-screen ads and animated branded jackets. Apart from that, brands can also associate with certain moments through exclusively curated assets, such as ‘Goals Galore’, ‘Smashing Aces’, ‘Super Start’, ‘Super Saves’, and ‘Winning Moment’. 

The app will also have a dedicated tab for the Olympics, which will have all the sought-after details like the schedule, medal tally, India’s participation, etc.

The Paris Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 26 to August 11, 2024. JioCinema did the first phase of promotions for it from April 18 to May 18. Ramping up its promotions on the IPL, it raised awareness about the date and destination. The second phase started on May 19 and will continue till July 7. During this phase, it will build familiarity and affinity for the Indian contenders. The last phase will be from July 8 to August 11, when it will rally India to watch the Olympics. 

“The Olympics need significant visibility, so we leveraged the IPL to promote the Olympics, generating close to a billion impressions. In the second phase, we're building Athlete Specific Affinity and Sports Specific Affinity. For example, there is a specific promo for Neeraj Chopra. Similarly, there will be promos for other sports, highlighting our athletes and their medal prospects,” he said.

Additionally, it has created a show ‘Get Set Gold’ to raise awareness about the athletes and sports. Since sports viewers in the country are predominantly cricket enthusiasts, it decided to use a cricketer to promote non-cricket sports. Hosted by cricketer Dinesh Karthik, he spends a day with some of India's top Olympic medal contenders, challenging them in various ways. It attempts to bridge the gap between cricket fans and Olympic sports, generating interest and support for the athletes.

“As we approach the final phase of the campaign, we'll launch a mass media effort to rally people to watch and support the Olympics as much as possible. We've consistently revolutionised how sports and individual content are consumed digitally, and this initiative is part of that ongoing transformation,” he said.