JioCinema, the official streaming partner for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in India, announced that 32 million or 3.2 crore viewers tuned in to JioCinema to watch the final match between Argentina and France.
It said that this is a new record for the digital viewership in India for a global marquee sports event. Jio added that over 110 million viewers consumed the content on digital throughout the tournament, making India one of the highest digital viewership markets for the FIFA World Cup.
The company added that FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 saw 40 billion watch minutes clocked across Sports18 and JioCinema, which continued to be the No. 1 downloaded free app on iOS and Android throughout the tournament.
It brought Hype Mode, empowering fans with unique offerings at their fingertips during a live match. This included a multi-cam view of the match, trivia and stats in real-time, and a Time Wheel that allows viewers to relive an unforgettable moment.
Jio said that the solid digital viewership of the event was supported by wide availability on multiple OEM and CTV platforms such as Jio STB, Apple TV, Amazon Firestick, Sony, Samsung, LG, and Xiaomi, among others. CTV viewers watched the world cup in UHD 4K for the first time ever through JioCinema.
Viacom18 has also acquired IPL digital streaming rights from 2023-27, so the matches will be streamed on JioCinema. It will stream the IPL mini-auction live from Kochi on December 23rd.
Commenting on the same, Viacom18 Sports CEO, Anil Jayaraj, said:
We promised to give consumers easy access to the world-class presentation of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, and on the back of that, the tournament became the most-watched global sports event on digital where India has not participated.
This demonstrates the power of digital and the preference viewers and fans have shown to consume their favourite events, which will now see Paris Saint-Germain teammates and FIFA World Cup Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappe and FIFA World Cup and Golden Ball winner Lionel Messi join forces in the Ligue1.