Fans of cricket who were getting disheartened after the end of IPL 2023, is in for good news. Jio Cinema has gained the digital rights of a month-long series, which will feature two Tests, three ODIs, and five T20Is, between India and West Indies.
The month-long series will be live-streamed by Jio Cinema, and viewers will be able to follow the limited- overs series in seven different languages, including English, Hindi, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.
🏖️,☀️ & 🏏 – A perfect Caribbean holiday!
Mark your 🗓️ and tune in for LIVE action from India's tour of West Indies on #JioCinema (free on any sim card).#TeamIndia | #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/gmObCF55hA
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) June 15, 2023
For JioCinema it is Another Win
JioCinema will continue to give fans their preferred sport in a never-seen-before presentation for free after the TATA IPL 2023 broke all records and established new levels of engagement, viewership, and concurrency. The presentation of a bilateral series in seven languages will be a novelty.
“We will push forward and give our viewers a top-notch presentation with the India Tour of the West Indies 2023,” said Hursh Shrivastava, Head of Strategy, Partnerships & Acquisitions at Viacom18.
India vs West Indies Series Details
The venues and match schedule for the multi-format series between the West Indies and India that will take place in July and August of this year were revealed by Cricket West Indies (CWI) on June 13. The first Test of India’s tour of the Caribbean will take place in Dominica from July 12 to July 16.
The series consists of two Test matches that are a part of the 2023–25 ICC World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. The second Test, which will take place at Trinidad’s Queen’s Park Oval from July 20 to 24, will be the 100th Test match between the two countries.
On August 1, the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad will host the inaugural men’s ODI between the two countries. There will also be two T20 matches in Florida, USA.
JioCinema vs Disney+ Hotstar: The Battle for Digital Rights of Sporting Events
India is a nation of cricket lovers and whoever owns the rights to stream it will rule the sports world and that is why a fight has ensued among different digital streamers for these rights. And the latest one to enter this fight is Disney+ Hotstar and Jio Cinema.
One of the most lucrative yearly sporting events in the world, the IPL, once belonged to Disney and possessed its digital rights. However, JioCinema, operated by Mukesh Ambani’s Viacom18, paid $2.9 billion to get those rights before offering the film on the streaming service for free.
All mobile phone users will be able to watch cricket competitions like the Asia Cup and ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup for free, according to Walt Disney Co.’s Indian platform Hotstar. After Hotstar lost the streaming rights to the wildly popular Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket event to Jio Cinema earlier this year, the company was forced to remove the paywall.
The move came after the success of IPL on Jio Cinema this year. The tournament’s opening weekend saw a record 1.47 billion digital views thanks to Jio Cinema, which made it free to watch. According to a JioCinema assessment, a record-breaking 3.21 crore viewers simultaneously watched the IPL final match between the Chennai Super Kings and Gujarat Titans.
The battle for viewership is ever-increasing with the streaming of the most popular game in the most populated country of the world. India is going high on internet consumption with an estimated 700 million users.
