Hotstar telecasting Cricket World Cup in six languages

The recently concluded IPL, for instance, saw Hotstar recording high viewership numbers, registering in excess of 300 million unique users.
World Cup trophy on display | Twitter@cricketworldcup
World Cup trophy on display | Twitter@cricketworldcup

With the just concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) raking in record numbers of viewers, the Star group’s digital telecast unit — Hotstar — is betting big on the Cricket World Cup to do the same. In an effort to significantly expand its reach, the platform is telecasting world cup matches this year in six regional languages. 

According to the company, the six languages world cup matches will be available for consumption in India will be English, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Bengali. The move is expected to result in increased traction for the platform, not just in India but also among the large Indian diaspora in markets like the United States and Canada. 

“Over the years, Hotstar has constantly raised the bar of tech innovation, proving its mettle at handling the immense scale and traffic seamlessly. With ICC World Cup 2019 on Hotstar, we aim to continue delivering an uninterrupted and immersive cricket watching experience not just to the domestic consumers, but to global audiences in the US and Canada as well,” Varun Narang, chief product officer, Hotstar said.

Industry sources say that the Star group has found the cricket telecast agreements for the Indian market to be quite lucrative, with analysts saying the media group will earn upwards of `1,500 crore from the advertising and sponsorship revenues, with Hotstar’s share likely to be more than `300 crore. For the Cricket World Cup, Hotstar has roped in several sponsors, including fantasy sports gaming company Dream 11, Uber Eats, Amazon Pay and Coca Cola as co-presenting sponsors and associate sponsors Royal Challenge, Acko, CEAT, and ICICI Lombard.

The Star group has invested significant capital in securing broadcasting rights for popular cricket tournaments. The recently concluded IPL, for instance, saw Hotstar recording high viewership numbers, not only registering in excess of 300 million unique users but also witnessing a 74 per cent increase in watch-time as compared to last year. 

Hotstar’s regional outreach has resulted in rapid addition of viewers from smaller towns and cities too, during this tournament. The platform said that the 2019 season had witnessed an overall 45 per cent growth in non-metro viewership, with some of the highest growth coming from cities like Coimbatore, Lucknow, Patna, Ranchi, and Salem.In good news for its prospects during the Cricket World Cup, Hotstar has also seen a two-fold increase in viewership for One Day Internationals since 2018.

IPL viewership hits record in 2019

The IPL saw Hotstar recording high viewership numbers, not only registering in excess of 300 million unique users but also witnessing a 74 per cent increase in watch-time as compared to last year. 

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The New Indian Express
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