IPL sees growth spurt on digital in 2016

With Hotstar claiming 100 mn in unique reach & Facebook registering 360 mn posts, IPL won on the digital platform

The Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) continued to attract viewers, especially on the digital platform, with STAR India's video streaming platform Hotstar registering a reach figure of 100 million across web and mobile.

According to data provided by the platform, IPL's reach increased from 41 million in 2015 to 100 million this year. (Reach indicates the number of unique visitors to the platform to sample the IPL).

Ajit Mohan, CEO of Hotstar, says, "During the tournament, we came across some interesting insights on the audience profile that Hotstar attracts. For one, the majority of the viewers are in the young affluent (male and female viewers above 15 years of age belonging to the upper socio-economic demographic in the metros). What we also found out is that for most of these viewers, consumption of the tournament took place almost exclusively on Hotstar. Additionally, the reach of the IPL in this category was 1.6 times that of television."

In terms of the gender slice, consumption was dominated by male viewers at 78 per cent of the total reach. Mohan explains this is more a function of the digital medium being male-dominated than anything else. In case of television, women contribute to around 35 per cent. The tournament has been available on STAR India's digital platforms for three years now. In 2014, the Uday Shankar-led network entered an agreement with Times Internet Limited to share the digital rights of the IPL. Later that year, the network won exclusive digital rights to the cash-rich twenty-20 tournament through its wholly-owned subsidiary Novi Digital. The reach of the IPL increased from 27 million in 2014 to 42 million in 2015, the first year it was available on Hotstar. Mobile has the led the way for the growth of the tournament on digital, as it contributed to 61 per cent of the total reach, up from 58 per cent in 2015 and 20 per cent in 2014.

Anand Chakravarthy, managing partner of Maxus, says, "Hotstar has certainly gained with each season of IPL. Comprising the urban affluent youth, Hotstar has definitely packaged and created a base of followers for a more enjoyable experience with its pre- and post-show programming. The wrap-around shows - Cricket Live and One Tip One Hand along with The Boundary Riders (a video blog) - have given the packaging of the IPL live broadcast on Hotstar added engagement and sheen. An increasingly 'mobile first' environment in India and the huge passion for cricket make Hotstar a definite go-to platform during IPL."

Hotstar had a total of 32 sponsors/advertisers on the IPL, including TV staples such as HUL, Nestle, Relaxo, Nissan, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Raymond, Hero Group, Ranbaxy and Mondelez India.

Subodh Marwah, vice-president and global head of consumer health care at Sun Pharma, says: "With millennials accounting for 65 per cent of India's population, digital as a medium is fast growing and the alternate screen penetration is far greater than TV sets. Hence, a digital-led strategy was an obvious choice for Volini spray to reach its 'sports enthusiasts' target audience. Volini associated with IPL 2016 as the official pain relief partner on Hotstar. To our advantage, Hotstar became the primary screen for this season and crossed 100 million viewers."