IPL aggression: Viacom 18 eyeing 550 million viewership in upcoming season

The goal: 50% of advertising pie for digital platform

Viacom 18, which has the digital rights to the IPL 2023-27, is targeting a staggering 550 million viewers for the forthcoming tournament starting in March, say sources close to the company.

If it achieves the target, this will be the highest ever recorded for any event or tournament on the digital platform in India and among the highest in the world in terms of viewership in a single country.

Analysts say the record for the highest IPL viewership on the digital platform was in 2018 when it hit

330 million.

A joint venture between Reliance Industries, James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, and Uday Shankar-promoted Bodhi Tree Systems, Viacom 18 won the digital rights for the IPL for five seasons for Rs 23,491 crore.

Its rival, Disney Star India, has the TV rights for the three-month-long cricket extravaganza. Earlier, it held both digital and TV rights for five years.

Viacom 18 is in talks with over 500 advertisers — which analysts estimate is four to five times higher than previous IPLs — to buy inventory on its digital platforms. These platforms include mobile phones and connected TV with stream programming from the net.

An e-mail sent to Anil Jayaraj, CEO, Sports, Viacom 18, did not elicit any response. 

The IPL matches will be available to consumers for free on Jio Cinema which has 400 million users and over 100 million active users. The matches will be available in 12 languages and three special feeds and can be watched on all smartphones irrespective of the telecom service provider or make of phone.

Apart from this, the subscribers will also come from around 75-100 million connected TV subscribers who stream apps through the net.

Another 300 million are unconnected TV households that nevertheless have a smart mobile phone.

Unlike Disney+ Hotstar which chose a hybrid model last year combining subscription with some free viewing for IPL on the digital platform, Viacom 18 has decided to go free (at least in the first season) and make money only through advertising.

It is banking on the fact that in 2022, digital advertising of Rs 34,500 crore surpassed that of television at Rs 30,000 crore, according to industry estimates. This year, experts say digital advertising is expected to grow sharply by 25 per cent.

Based on discussions with advertisers and media buyers, Viacom 18 expects to grab nearly 50 per cent of the total advertising pie, TV and digital, that will be spent on IPL this season. This represents a substantial increase in its share of the total advertising pie spent on the IPL.  

The entertainment network hopes to do so by leveraging technology that allows it to slice and dice and customise advertising to the specific requirements of advertisers, something that TV cannot do.

Viacom also has more flexibility than TV owing to its much larger ad inventory. This will allow it to sell spots at a lower ticket size and reach smaller businesses which is why it is in talks not just with big advertisers but SMEs and regional players to persuade them to spend some money in the game. 

DIGITAL T20 BASH

• Viacom 18 in talks to rope in 500 advertisers by offering them customised solutions to reach their target audience, which TV cannot
• It will woo new advertisers, such as MSMEs, by offering them affordable ticket sizes for ad inventory
• Offering IPL in 12 languages and 3 special feeds
• Leveraging Jio Cinema, which has active customers, rather than going for a separate OTT channel