In the previous couple of years, Viacom18 has expanded its footprints into the sports activities broadcasting ecosystem which in flip has introduced in a seismic shift within the area. The ensuing disruption has propelled the broadcaster as the highest sports activities community in India.

When Viacom18 landed the digital streaming rights for the profitable Indian Premier League in June 2022 for a file quantity, higher than what was paid for the tv rights, it gave a transparent indication of the course wherein the sports activities consumption within the nation is headed in direction of.

Having purchased the rights for a jawdropping Rs 23,758 crore to stream IPL matches for the 2023-27 interval, Viacom18 then additional revealed its ambitions by saying that the second most valued sporting occasion on this planet will likely be obtainable at no cost on its platform JioCinema.

Few months later, in addition they bagged the media rights (each broadcast and streaming) for the Women’s Premier League which was additionally obtainable at no cost.

The astounding numbers that the platform recorded all through IPL 2023 confirmed that the journey from linear to Connected TVs and cellular units has begun.

The unparalleled protection drew a whopping 32 million viewers for the IPL closing between Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans on JioCinema which was then a worldwide file for essentially the most concurrent views.

Cricket is the largest sports activities property in India and Viacom18 expanded its ambit by additionally buying each the streaming and broadcast rights for all worldwide and home cricket in India for the September 2023-March 2028 interval.

It’s protected to say Viacom18 has change into the official house of Indian cricket.

Beyond Cricket

While cricket stays essentially the most profitable of all sports activities in India, Viacom18 has been swiftly making headway in different main sports activities properties too.

Besides IPL and WPL, the community’s ever increasing portfolio additionally consists of Olympics 2024,  SA20, Major League Cricket, Ultimate Table Tennis, NBA, Diamond League, World Athletics Championships (Budapest 2023), MotoGP, LaLiga, Ligue1, Serie A, BGIS (E-Sports), Abu Dhabi T10, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, BWF occasions and extra.

And lately, the community sealed a landmark media partnership take care of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) for a interval spanning 2023-2027 to stream and broadcast all main FIH occasions in India besides the Nations Cup.

Tackling Reluctance to Pay

While a inhabitants in extra of 1 billion individuals makes India a proper holders dream, it’s additionally a undeniable fact that there’s an enormous gulf between the OTT viewers and paid subscribers.

The business is constructive that the hole will cut back with time, Viacom18 took an enormous leap to supply cricket at no cost on JioCinema, a step which is a part of the community’s intent to offer “high quality and reasonably priced content material” to each viewer in the country.

“Live sports consumption in India has sharply pivoted towards digital, and winning the global digital rights will help us further fuel this ascendancy,” Viacom18 Sports chief govt officer Anil Jayaraj says. “Additionally, successful the printed rights is an extension of our technique as we are going to proceed to serve high quality and reasonably priced content material to all viewers as they proceed emigrate from linear TV to digital screens.”

The immediate impact of this approach obviously reflected in the astronomical viewing figures but also resulted in Disney Hotstar, the current media rights-holders of ICC events, streaming the 2023 ODI World Cup matches for free on mobile.

Immersive Coverage

The freedom and scope that digital media offers has allowed the Viacom18 to provide immersive, extensive coverage of the various sports events from across the globe. The prime example being the 2022 FIFA World Cup where viewers had the freedom to switch between different camera angles for unique experiences.

Additionally, the viewers have the option to follow the coverage of various events across different languages which caters to their linguistic preferences.

The rich experience has certainly caught the fancy of the Indian populace as they continue to switch from linear to digital screens. With the ever growing broadband penetration in the country, the journey will only hasten.