A crucial knock-out cricket match between India and New Zealand shattered all previous on-demand video streaming records Wednesday, attracting over 49 million concurrent viewers to Disney’s Hotstar.
The milestone exceeded the prior record of 44 million simultaneous viewers set by the Disney-owned streamer earlier this month. As far as concurrent viewers are concerned, Hotstar now maintains a clear lead over rival, Mukesh Ambani-backed Viacom18’s JioCinema, which peaked at 32 million earlier this year.
The milestone also comes at a time when Disney, which is streaming the ICC World Cup cricket matches at no cost to mobile viewers in India as it attempts to fight back Viacom18, is fast-losing digital subscribers in India and evaluating the future of the local business.
Disney chief executive Bob Iger said earlier this month that the firm “would like to stay” in India and is considering its options in the world’s most populous country where its TV business continues to pull profit. Hotstar has lost more than 23 million subscribers in the past one year, according to Disney.
More to follow.
