JioCinema, the over-the-top streaming service owned by Viacom18, has recently secured the digital rights to stream the India-West Indies cricket series. The platform will provide live-streams for two test matches, three ODIs, and five T20Is.
Multi-sport aggregator, Fancode, has also secured a sub-licensing deal for the same tournament. Dream Sports, the parent company of FanCode, will broadcast the series in India.
India’s tour of West Indies is scheduled to start on July 12th, where the first test match will take place in Dominica, followed by the second in Trinidad. The test series will mark the beginning of India’s World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle.
The three-match ODI series will be held on July 27th and will take place in Barbados and Trinidad, while the five-match T20I competition is set to kick off on August 3rd in Trinidad, followed by two matches in Guyana and the last two matches taking place in Florida, USA.
The series will be available in seven languages, and Viacom18, which is majority-owned by Reliance Industries, aims to provide its viewers with a world-class presentation during the India Tour of West Indies 2023, according to the head of strategy, partnership and acquisitions for sports at Viacom18, Hursh Shrivastava.
JioCinema recently claimed that the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League, which was hosted on their platform, garnered 3.21 crore peak concurrency and had approximately 1700 crore video views. Although it is important to note that total video views do not equate to total viewers, as they represent all the sessions made by all users. The platform also claimed to have received 2.5 crore downloads of its app during the season.
According to a report by GroupM ESP, the size of the Indian sports industry surpassed ₹9,500 crore in 2021, and after the pandemic lull, sports sponsorships and media deals made a comeback in 2021.