The Indian Premier League has scaled new heights this season in terms of audience engagement on the back of successive last-ball finishes and a new broadcast strategy.
With audiences consuming more content on their phones and hand-held devices, audience data for IPL 2023 reflect a similar trend with online viewership breaking new records.
The closing stages of the match between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals at Chepauk on Wednesday - which was MS Dhoni's 200th as Chennai captain - saw the highest number of concurrent viewers at 22 million on India's online rights holders JioCinema.
Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja steered a tense chase with the match on a knife's edge in the last over as the former India captain hit successive sixes to bring the equation down to five needed from one ball. However, a near-perfect yorker by seamer Sandeep Sharma secured victory for Rajasthan.
A 41-year-old Dhoni's last over assault on Wednesday pushed viewership numbers on the digital platform past the 20 million concurrent mark for the first time this season. Such numbers were to be expected after digital rights holder - billionaire Mukesh Ambani - decided to show the IPL free of charge across India after bidding $2.7 billion for it.
Among other factors driving the rise in online viewers include 4k quality feed, multiple camera options for viewers and commentary in various regional languages.
Numbers are similarly encouraging on the TV front, whose rights were bought by Disney for around $3 billion. According to Disney Star, the official TV broadcasters in India, IPL 2023 had a cumulative reach of 300 million viewers for the first 10 matches, with the opening match of the tournament between Chennai and Gujarat Titans peaking at 56m viewers on the traditional medium.
Highest viewership for IPL 2023:
1. 22 million: Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals
2. 18 million: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Lucknow Super Giants
=3. 17 million: Chennai Super Kings v Lucknow Super Giants
=3. 17 million: Mumbai Indians v Delhi Capitals
5. 16 million: Chennai Super Kings v Gujarat Titans
Note: Peak concurrent viewers on digital platform
