Connected TV drives streaming growth thanks to IPL's huge numbers

The viewership of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on connected (internet-enabled and activated) televisions has jumped four times. 

From a couple of million in 2023, the number of people watching the matches on connected TVs touched 8 million in 2024. Much of Netflix’s growth has come on the back of connected TV. 

Password sharing for Netflix is still active for premium subscriptions with multiple devices. Those are some of the insights from the COTT data for 2024. 

COTT for Business is a tool offered by Noida-based media research and analytics firm Chrome DM. It uses a combination of sources to offer a rather comprehensive look at the OTT ecosystem. An app downloaded on the devices of a panel of about one lakh people in 38 cities was the basis for the data. The panel is generated from the ten lakh people on the Chrome DM database. 

The company has been tracking television and cable data since it was set up in 2008. Connected TV is tracked manually on a base of over 42,000 homes. The mix of revenue, cross-device and other data, shows trends that have been difficult to capture so far. 

The annual average revenue per user for ad-supported services was ₹676, and for pay-driven services was ₹1,103, according to COTT. 

The total figures for OTT users (628 million) or total revenues (₹37,940 crore) are more or less in line with what Comscore and Media Partners Asia have been sharing.