Hotstar's Uday Shankar wants credit for reviving IPL through streaming

• The Indian Premier League (IPL) is worth $5.7 billion according to Brand Finance’s 2019 report — an all-time high of the 20-20 cricketing tournament.
• According to Hotstar CEO, Uday Shankar, if cricket is more popular today — it’s because the streaming platform made it more accessible.
• He gives Hotstar the credit for discovering cricket’s ‘next growth mountain’.

The Indan Premier League (IPL) is back on its feet and worth $5.7 billion — an all-time high for the cricketing franchise. And, Hotstar CEO Uday Shankar wants credit for discovering this new growth trajectory.


"Cricket will be the big powerhouse," Shankar said on December 10 at the release of Hotstar’s India Watch Report 2019. IPL is attracting more fans, investment and international recognition that ever before. Internationational brands "all want a slice of the pie," according to Brand Finance.

But that wasn’t always the case. According to Shankar, there was a perception of cricket having plateaued in India up until a few years back.

"We have taken it from that plateau that discovered the next growth mountain for cricket by going even deeper — and that is a route everyone will have to go through," he said.


Turning the story around

In 2012, the IPL’s popularity waned severely as news of match-fixing scandals and gambling made the headlines. "Controversies have adversely impacted the IPL's brand value," Brand Finance said at the time.

Its value went for a nose-dive from $4.1 million to $2.9 million between 2010 to 2012.

It was thought that only a model like the one used by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) — also known as World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) — would be able to save the 20-20 cricket tournament. On WWE, it doesn’t matter if the action is real or not, as long as it’s entertaining.

And, until 2017 — the IPL’s future looked bleak. Last year, the brand hit the $5 billion mark. And, in 2019, the brand’s value has increased 1.6 times over the past 10 years. The Chennai Super Kings, in particular, have 90% more valuable than they were in 2009.

"This year’s tournament ran up over 330 billion minutes of broadcasting time and logged 300 million viewers into the streaming service over a span of 44 days," said Savio D’Souza, Direct of Brand Finance.

Making cricket interactive

During the last season of the IPL, between 2 million to 8 million people were streaming any given match, according to Hostar. During the final match between the Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, concurrent users hit 18.6 million — a new record for the streaming platform only be broken in a few months later during the nerve-wracking semi-final between India and New Zealand. Hotstar saw an all-time high of 25 million viewers.

"So, if children and people in small towns, in rural areas and women — they’re all watching cricket — it’s because cricket has become more accessible," explained Shankar.

And, a lot of it has to do with matching the video watching experience more interactive. More than 64 million viewers participated in Hostar’s ‘Watch ’N Play’ feature during the IPL.

During the live matches, streamers exchanges up to 6 billion emojis and 44 million comments.

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