A record-breaking number of Indian fans were glued to their mobile, laptop and smart TV screens as their side defeated arch-rivals Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on Saturday.
Dubbed the greatest rivalry in sport, India vs Pakistan received a huge buildup but turned out to be a one-sided affair. The Men in Blue secured an easy seven-wicket win after bowling Pakistan out for 199 in 42.5 overs.
Star Sports has exclusive broadcast rights for all 48 matches of the World Cup on its TV Channels and digitally through its sister streaming platform, Disney+ Hotstar.
And while the traditional TV viewing figures are yet to be released, the streaming platform has confirmed the match broke its record for the largest number of people watching a single live stream at any given time.
At one point during Saturday’s match there were more than 35 million viewers tuning in, which Disney+ Hotstar said surpassed its previous “peak concurrency” record of 32 million viewers set earlier this year during the final of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Gujarat Titans (GT).
It comfortably beat the previous record for the platform for an India match, 28 million viewers at one point during the Asia Cup 2023 when they again faced Pakistan. The final of that tournament – India vs Sri Lanka – peaked at 21 million viewers.
“We would like to thank all the fans who tuned in to watch the India-Pakistan match on Disney+ Hotstar. Your love for the game is what made it possible for Disney+ Hotstar to achieve the remarkable concurrency number of 3.5 crore (35 million) viewers,” said Sajith Sivanandan, president of Disney+ Hotstar India.
The new record comes as a boost to Disney+ Hotstar, which is owned via a subsidiary by the Walt Disney Company, after drops in subscribers over the past three quarters.
The streaming platform has been facing increased competition in India, most notably from Reliance Industries-owned JioCinema, which has acquired the IPL streaming rights for the 2023 season as well as the rights to stream popular HBO shows like Game of Thrones and The Last of Us which were earlier available on Disney+ Hotstar.
