Disney on Thursday (November 23) said that a record 518 million (51.8 crore) Indian viewers watched the recently concluded International Cricket Council's Men Cricket World Cup matches on the company-owned television channels during the 48-day event.
As per BARC, ICC's marquee 50-over tournament crossed a viewership of half a billion viewers for the first time. This comes after its digital arm Disney+ Hotstar broke the peak concurrency record for the fifth time this tournament with a massive 5.9 crore peak concurrent viewers tuning in to watch the finals against Australia on November 19.
The platform had surpassed the global streaming records across all formats of cricket at the beginning of the tournament with a peak concurrency of 3.5 crore viewers during the India vs Pakistan match last month.
Disney bought digital and streaming rights for broadcasting the ICC tournaments in the country from 2024 to 2027 for around $3 billion.
To boost viewership, Disney+ Hotstar has offered free streaming of World Cup cricket on smartphones and to boost advertising revenue as well.
The numbers offer some relief for the Burbank-headquartered India unit which is exploring options of either a joint venture or selling its business.
-With inputs from Reuters
First Published: Nov 23, 2023 5:23 PM IST
