IPL on digital: A cost-effective and seamless experience for millions of fans

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is one of the biggest sporting events in India, one that is eagerly awaited by millions of fans. The recent unveiling of the large-scale digital coverage for the upcoming season has only added to the excitement and anticipation among fans.  

With the rapid growth of digital streaming platforms, fans are already turning to online platforms and over-the-top (OTT) services to watch their favourite shows and sporting events, including IPL matches. The convenience of being able to watch matches on-the-go and on multiple devices, coupled with the increasing affordability of high-speed internet, has made digital streaming a popular choice among viewers.

JioCinema's streaming of the IPL with several unique features is in absolute alignment with India's shifting pattern of prime-time entertainment from linear TV to digital platform and therefore the grand coverage of IPL on digital will not only boost viewership but will also serve as a template for being a seamless experience, without any additional cost barrier or increased screen time. 

India has a massive internet user base of nearly 720 million people, with the top 50% of purchasing power concentrated in 30 million homes that have access to unlimited wired internet connections. Additionally, there are 100 million mobile users in this category with unlimited data access. This means that users from these homes can watch IPL without any additional charge, making it easier for them to access digital platforms and consume content.

This segment of the population has been the early adopters of digital platforms and is leading the shift towards digital entertainment in India. They are also highly responsive to ad campaigns, making them an attractive target for brands seeking to reach a large and engaged audience.

As far as the large chunk of the 600 million mobile users are concerned, most of them are on a 2GB/day pack, which is the most popular and cost-effective pack across all telecom providers.  Even if they use half of their data allowance for IPL, they shall be able to access 3.3 hours on standard definition (SD) or a minimum of 1 hour on full High-definition (HD) streaming. In terms of overall macro consumption, SD consumes 0.3 GB per hour, and HD consumes 1 GB per hour. Assuming a 50:50 split (since mobile screens don't need HD), it would take 0.7GB of data to watch one IPL match. And even with that, users will still have at least 65% of their data unused. This means that even users with limited data plans can watch the IPL matches without worrying about excessive data consumption. Additionally, the affordable cost of data allows users to upgrade seamlessly, without any major financial burden.

Even in terms of actual cost, watching IPL on digital is 10 times cheaper than TV.  The cost of watching the entire IPL 2023 series on JioCinema works up to Rs 45- Rs 55 for a resolution of 240p, a resolution of 480p will cost a user Rs 105- Rs 125 and the if all the matches are watched in HD it comes to around Rs 150- Rs 180. Watching the entire series on TV will cost anywhere Rs 440 which is the cost of a base pack.

According to data from BARC, which analysed the viewership pattern of IPL 2022 also suggests that watching the game on a device does not lead to increased consumption in data and is well within the data usage limits. The data shows that the monthly data usage for viewing IPL 2022 was a maximum of 7GB for a resolution of 720p. 

The industry heads are equally enthused by the shift in the viewership patterns and the reach and accessibility that digital gives brands as well as viewers.

 Puneeth Bekal, director of marketing at Mastercard said India is already seeing a huge shift in digital content consumption and IPL on digital is only going to further accelerate the shift. “We are already seeing a huge digital shift in terms of consumption of content not only for sports, but across genres of entertainment. The access and the reach that the digital platforms give brands is massive. IPL on digital is a win-win for every cohort for viewers and even brands,”said Bekal. On how data will not be a barrier to this transition, Bekal further added, “Consumers are smart in terms of using data. There is always prioritisation and rationalisation of how they consume data and for what and over a period time there will be transition to unlimited data. It is a gradual transition and it will be the beginning of a phase where every Indian would partake in digital data consumption.”

Sneha Beriwal, Global CEO, Vahdam said, "Data is not supremely unaffordable in India and this may be that step where people increase their data recharge value. Also, the way IPL is streamed will have to be such that it consumes less bandwidth at the user’s end. We will see at least one or even both changes in the data usage pattern this IPL season.

Vivek Bhargava, co-founder of ProfitWheel said that the digital transition in the country has already happened and with IPL on digital will only add to the internet users in the country. "The digital shift has already happened. There are more viewers on digital than on TV even now. Jio has the infrastructure to support simultaneous viewing across the country and IPL is a huge property which pulls everyone. IPL on digital is also a great way to get more and more people to start using the internet."

In conclusion, it is beyond evident that the digital IPL platform may not face any cost barriers in terms of data consumption. With India's increasing digitization, more and more fans are expected to tune in to the digital platform to catch their favorite teams in action. 

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