Fans have witnessed numerous edge-of-their-seat contests thus far in the IPL 2023, which has been an exhilarating spectacle. The current cricket season has featured breathtaking action that has kept spectators glued to their televisions every day. According to data from Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, IPL official broadcaster, Disney Star, has garnered the highest viewership in the tournament’s history for the first 66 matches, thanks to the action-packed season.
The first 66 IPL 2023 games garnered 48.2 crore viewers on the Disney Star Network, the most ever for a single IPL season, surpassing the previous record set in 2019, according to BARC data cited by the media behemoth.
For the seventh week, the Economic Times reports that the weekly TVR is up 43% year-over-year. After 66 games, TVR has grown by 32% compared to the previous season. Disney Star stated last month that it only took 29 matches to surpass the 2022 edition’s viewership record.
According to BARC data, the television audience for 29 matches surpassed 40 crore, representing an increase of nearly 24% compared to the previous edition. Disney Star was competing with Viacom18 for the digital rights to the T20 extravaganza’s ongoing edition. In addition, the competition was fierce because Jio Cinema offers free streaming services on its platform.
Both Jio and Star have experienced an increase in viewership.
Both companies recruited a number of cricket icons in an effort to attract as many viewers as possible to their respective platforms. IPL’s television and digital platforms grew exponentially in 2023 as a result of the numerous new features offered on both platforms and their respective marketing strategies.
During the first qualifier between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings, Jio Cinema recorded 2.5 billion concurrent viewers. On the other hand, the match between GT and MS Dhoni’s CSK drew the season’s highest peak concurrency on Disney Star, which was 5.6 crore.
In addition, four more games registered peak concurrency of greater than 3 cr on Disney Star’s network during week 7 of the tournament, bringing the total number of games with peak concurrency of greater than 3 cr for IPL 2023 to 40. The match between CSK and KKR had the highest peak concurrency of the seventh week with 4.2 Cr, while the match between CSK and GT had the highest peak concurrency of the tournament with 5.6 Cr.