CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress / ITDC News Bhopal: The Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru IPL 2024 opener broke TV viewership records, said broadcasters Disney Star on Thursday. “16.8 Crore unique viewers watched the broadcast of IPL 2024 on Day 1, registering a watch-time of 1276 Crore minutes – the highest ever for the opening day of any IPL season,” said Disney Star in an official release.
The 17th season of IPL, also witnessed the highest-ever peak TV concurrency for an IPL Opening Day, with 6.1 Crore viewers watching the broadcast simultaneously on the Disney Star network.
A Star Sports Spokesperson said, “This is a monumental achievement, made possible by fans’ love for Star Sports and an unwavering commitment of the network to ‘serving fans’. We would also like to thank all our partners and extend heartfelt gratitude to the BCCI for their support of the wide array of initiatives that Star Sports has continually undertaken to grow cricket and IPL.
A star-studded line-up of talent comprising IPL title winners, World Cup champions, reputed coaches and legends from the game presented the Opening Day. It saw Navjot Singh Sidhu return to the commentary box and join India’s World Champions Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth. It witnessed the debut of Steve Smith and Stuart Broad, who join legends Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden, Kevin Pietersen, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn in presenting IPL 2024. CSK’s former stars Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, L Balaji and Subramaniam Badrinath along with IPL champions Vinay Kumar and Venugopal Rao were at the forefront of Disney Star’s regional feeds in 9 languages.
The ensemble of ~120 cricketers was complimented by national and regional celebrities as well as fan-favourite presenters and content creators, to deliver wholesome entertainment on the Opening Day.
The record-breaking TV viewership on the opening day comes on the back of an incredible lead-up to the 17th season which attracted more than 24.5 Crore unique viewers till a week prior to the start of the tournament.
In comparison, on digital, JioCinema had clocked 11.3 crore viewers on the first day of the IPL. The streamer claimed that it registered a 51% jump over day one of IPL 2023. The total watch time on JioCinema on day 1 was 660 crore minutes, it said in a statement.