Indian Premier League (IPL), one of the most popular sporting events in India, is expected to see a spurt in digital viewership in 2023 with the free streaming on JioCinema. Adding fuel is the high-speed internet connectivity, low data cost and affordable plans.
Here are a few key points on data consumption for IPL 2023.
Digital experience is seamless – won’t have data barriers
Jio’s streaming of the IPL will only substitute existing primetime OTT viewing hence there will not be any incremental data usage. It is a mere substitution of data and consumption time for the user which was earlier being spent on other OTT and social media content, is the contention.
Cost of watching IPL on JioCinema is 10X cheaper than TV
Cost of streaming IPL on digital: The cost of data/GB is Rs.5 to Rs.6 and data required per two matches is 0.3 GB for 240p, 0.7 GB for 480p and 1 GB for 720p. This is well within the daily data quota of bestseller packs and no additional cost is needed. The cost of watching entire IPL ’23 on JioCinema comes around Rs.45 to Rs.55 for 240p, Rs.105 to Rs.125 for 480p and Rs.150 to Rs.180 for 720p. The above data is on the basis of Jio, Vi and Airtel prepaid tariff.
Cost of viewing IPL on TV: The network capacity fee (NCF)/month including GST is Rs.154. The sports channel charges/month (including NCF) is Rs.220 for base pack and Rs. 176 for ala carte. Cost of watching entire IPL 2023 on TV for two months is Rs.440 for base pack and Rs.352 for ala carte. This proves that digital viewing is far more cheaper than linear TV.
According to an analysis done by BARC on how IPL was viewed in 2022, for TG 2+ India Urban+Rural (U+R), the average time spent per match was 53 mins for an average number of 15 matches per viewer wherein the total data usage for IPL was 13 GB for 720p, 9 GB for 480p and 4 GB for 240p. The monthly data usage for the same stood at 7 GB, 5 GB and 2 GB for 720p, 480p and 240p respectively.
Similarly for TG M15+ AB India Urban, the average time spent per match was 58 mins for an average number of 18 matches per viewer wherein the total data usage for IPL was 17 GB for 720p, 12 GB for 480p and 5 GB for 240p. The monthly data usage for the same stood at 9 GB, 6 GB and 3 GB for 720p, 480p and 240p respectively.
In IPL 2023, even if the average number of matches watched goes up, the data consumption will be well within the data limit. For 58 minutes of viewing per match, if an average number of 18 matches per viewer is considered then the total data usage for IPL will be 17 GB for 720p and the monthly usage figure for the same stands at 9 GB. If the average number of matches per viewer is increased to 30, the total data usage for IPL will be 29 GB for 720p and the monthly usage for the same will be 15 GB.
In India, digital viewing has grown in multi-folds over the years with the support of low data cost and wide network of mobile users making the transition seamless and resulting in cord cutting. An Airtel subscription for 1 GB/day for a period of 30 days costs Rs.181, Jio for 1 GB/day for 28 days costs Rs.209 with additional benefits and Vi costs Rs.269 for 1 GB/day for 28 days with additional benefits. Thus the mobile subscription cost for telcos range between Rs.180 to Rs.270 per month.
In the meanwhile, sports entry price range for watching IPL on TV ranges between Rs.320 to Rs.350 per month for DTH. Thus the telcos emerge as clear winners giving an edge to digital viewing over linear.
Zero incremental cost of watching IPL
India’s 50pc purchasing power is in the top 30 million homes. All of them have a wired internet connection. They have 100 million mobile devices. Most wired connections today are unlimited, so top 50pc purchasing power homes and their 100 million users can watch IPL without incremental charge.
Among the remaining 600 million mobile users, most of them are on 2GB/day pack (most popular pack across telcos). Of this, even if they use half for IPL i.e. 1GB/day, they shall be able to access 3.3 hours on SD or minimum one hour on full HD streaming. With additional cost of data being cheap, users can also upgrade seamlessly.
SD consumes 0.3 GB per hour and HD consumes 1 GB per hour. Assuming a 50:50 split (since mobile screen doesn’t need HD), one will be left with 0.7 GB/hour unused.
With the above bucket of information on data consumption, we asked few industry experts to weigh in their views on:
“Will mobile or internet data be a barrier for IPL 2023 digital viewership or is it set for an all-time high?
‘Streaming here to stay, most convenient and cost effective’
Currently all mobile plans come with a fairly decent amount of data bundled in with the more popular plans giving users 1.5 GB of data daily. The average data cost today stands at Rs. 10 per GB with average monthly mobile data consumption at 14 GB.
Thus streaming is here to stay as the most convenient and cost effective means of consuming content and IPL will be no exception.
– Sabyasachi Mitter, Founder and Managing Director, Fulcro
‘JioCinema’s claims on reach for IPL believable’
India has 800 million smartphones with one of the lowest data costs in the world. When you give that audience content like IPL for free (no subscription wall), the scope becomes interesting. Hence the claims by JioCinema of 500 to 600 million reach for IPL is believable. Also we are seeing IPL back in its original avatar of home and away with packed stadiums after three years. It means the overall interest in the tournament also goes up.
With 5G also coming now at very affordable rates, 4k video quality on mobile and very attractive prices for first hand and refurbished mobile devices, audiences will definitely want to view content. So I don’t see a major barrier unless the matches become one-sided and some stars are not in top form.
– Abhishek Mukherjee, Chief Business Officer, The Media Ant
‘Without any iota of doubt’
Unlike its previous rivalry, JioCinema is all set to scrap the subscription based streaming of IPL. In a country of 1.4 billion population, smartphone penetration is almost 47.5pc, which means roughly over 650 million people have smartphones. The viewership of IPL this year is expected to reach the 500+ million mark without any iota of doubt.
– Kumar Awanish, Chief Growth Officer, Cheil Worldwide
(Think Through features may be initiated and funded by stakeholders with content inputs.)
