IPL 2023 LIVE: Viacom18 is targetting staggering 550 million viewers for Indian Premier League 2023. With a break-the-bank bid of 23,757.5 crores, the broadcast network owned by Reliance Industries outbid rival Disney Star in 2022 to secure the five-year digital rights to the Indian Premier League. It also purchased the Women’s Premier League’s rights in January for 951 crores. And now Viacom is looking to outnumber the TV viewers of Disney Star. Follow WPL 2023 and IPL LIVE with InsideSport.IN
The high-value bids’ math may not make sense, but Viacom18 Sports CEO Anil Jayaraj claims that the business will not only break even in five years but will also provide good returns on its investments.
IPL 2023 LIVE: Viacom18 targetting STAGGERING 550 million viewers for Indian Premier League 2023, fire shots at Disney Star, CHECK out
The TV rights holder, Disney Star, has set a 500 million-viewer target for the IPL. While market experts believe that Viacom18 reportedly can get 350 million viewers reach.
When asked about the same, Anil Jayaraj, Viacom18 Sports CEO replied to Mint:
“Today, you have 700 million internet-enabled devices in this country and our objective is to reach everyone. Practically, we could hit upwards of 550 million is my guess. If I look at accessing IPL, which is like a TV reach, which is 1 minute. Having said that, the real thing about digital is when an advertiser says he wants to buy a 300 million reach, it’s not this one-minute reach, and we will actually serve the ad to 300 million people.”
“And, only if they see the ad, the advertiser will pay us. We are actually focused on delivering really superior customer experience, ensuring access goes well beyond whatever has been. If you do some of the back calculations, while it sounds big if you see what had happened before and then sort of do some basic extrapolation on the basis of what has happened to the internet-enabled devices, we believe it’s not unfair for us to target 550 million on the back of all innovations we have planned, including multiple languages and an enormous amount of surround content and stuff.”
“We are actually very committed to giving people a real, engaging and unique experience. We are also going to do 4K with multi-cam feeds, so, as a consumer, you can actually choose the camera angle,” he concluded.
IPL 2023 LIVE Streaming: Bigger and Better
Jio-led Sports18 will broadcast IPL matches this year in 4K video quality. The BCCI has approved this choice, which is expected to significantly enhance viewers’ viewing pleasure. 4K HD video has four times the resolution of 1080p HD video in High Definition (HD).
Hotstar, the IPL’s previous official digital partner, carried matches via the HD feed until 2022. However, soon spectators will be able to stream games in 4K as well.
𝑨 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑻20 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕 🏏
Women’s IPL finally becomes a reality 👏
Watch Match Centre LIVE Women’s Cricket Special today, only on #JioCinema and #Sports18 📲 💻
Stay tuned for more details!#WomensCricket pic.twitter.com/sfTkQtLHjP
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) January 25, 2023
Several hundred crores, according to industry insiders, were spent on Sports18’s technical staff’s hiring for the IPL. A seasoned professional claims that it currently has one of the largest technical teams in India.
