Cricket Dictates Massive Swings in India's Streaming Wars

The latest data from India’s streaming market highlights cricket’s unrivaled power to attract viewers in the world’s most populous country, with major tournaments causing dramatic shifts in market share among competing platforms.

Disney+ Hotstar saw its monthly active user (MAU) share surge by 17 percentage points to 46% in June, driven by its exclusive broadcast of the ICC T20 World Cup, which concluded late last month. This propelled Hotstar to within 3 percentage points of its 49% peak achieved during the ICC Cricket World Cup in November 2023.

The T20 World Cup’s impact was equally evident in app download figures, with Hotstar’s share skyrocketing from 14% in May to 57% in June – a 43 percentage point increase, according to mobile intelligence platform Sensor Tower.

Conversely, JioCinema, which had enjoyed a significant boost during the Indian Premier League (IPL) season, saw its fortunes reverse sharply. Its MAU share nearly halved to 13% in June, while its download share plummeted by 39 percentage points to just 10%.

“This shows the importance of sports rights (especially cricket) in attracting and retaining eyeballs.” UBS analysts noted in their report.

Reliance wouldn’t mind losing share to Disney’s Hotstar so much. The Indian conglomerate entered into a deal to merge its media properties with Disney’s India unit earlier this year. The two firms expect an approval from the local watchdog, the Competition Commission of India, early next year, a person briefed on the matter told IndiaDispatch.

The volatile swings in viewership, nonetheless, uncovers the high stakes in India’s fiercely competitive streaming market, where securing rights to premium cricket content has become a key battleground for platforms vying for supremacy.

Reliance and Disney have cornered nearly all of the key cricket streaming and broadcast rights in India.