The Asia Cup and the ODI World Cup are scheduled for later this year. Walt Disney Co’s Hotstar will provide free streaming of cricket tournaments in India on mobile devices. This follows rival JioCinema’s success in garnering millions of viewers with a similar strategy in the cricket-crazy nation. Hotstar said on Friday it would offer the Asia Cup and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup tournaments for free. JioCinema offered a free telecast of the Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the world’s most lucrative annual sporting properties, after bagging internet rights from Hotstar.
The broadcasting joint venture of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries said it had clocked a record 13 billion digital views in the first five weeks of the tournament. Each viewer spends an average of an hour watching a match.
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Research firm CLSA estimates Hotstar’s subscriber base shrank by nearly 5 million users after losing IPL rights.
While JioCinema is preparing to charge users for content, its executives have said IPL streaming will continue to be offered at no cost.
Cricket is the most popular game in the world’s top populous nation, where the bulk of digital consumption is driven by smartphones with an estimated 700 million users.
“If continued over the longer term, free cricket offerings may magnify losses for streaming platforms or lead to consolidation, as many platforms may not survive with lower revenue per user,” Elara Capital analyst Karan Taurani said.
With hefty content costs and strong competition in digital ads, freemium – a blended revenue model that relies on both subscription fees and ad sales – is the right way to go for streaming platforms in India, Taurani added.
