India vs Australia. (Photo Source: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
9th June 2023: Disney+ Hotstar’s streaming of the World Test Championship 2023 final between India and Australia has reached a peak concurrency of around 15 lakhs in the first two days of the match.
The average live viewership for the most awaited Test cricket championship that’s being watched across the globe is in the range of ten lacs. During the recently concluded IPL, JioCinema had touched a peak concurrency of 3.21 crore, the highest ever for any streaming platform.
As per a recent announcement, Disney+ Hotstar is now going to keep upcoming cricket tournaments like the Asia Cup and ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 outside of their paywall. JioCinema’s strategy of keeping sports including IPL, outside the paywall has already found massive success.
Disney is now catching up with the industry trends as the viewership moves from linear TV to digital. During the recently concluded IPL, digital streaming was far ahead in terms of advertisers, as compared to linear TV.
Disney+ Hotstar’s decision to offer free streaming of sports comes after the loss of 8.4 million paid subscribers after losing the digital rights for the IPL. The loss of HBO content from Disney+ Hotstar is also impacting its premium subscriber base, as per a report in ET on Thursday.
Talking about WTC Final, India are in a spot of bother after trailing by 318 runs by the end of Day 2 while chasing Australia’s mammoth target of 469 runs. Earlier in the game, Steve Smith and Travis Head’s centuries propelled Pat Cummins and his men to a great total while their bowlers were also up to the mark as they sent back five Indian batters to the pavilion by end of the Day 2. It remains to be seen if India will be able to do some catching up on Day 3 of the mega clash.