Mumbai: Disney Star, the official broadcaster of the Tata IPL has started the 17th season of Tata IPL with what it said is a record-breaking Opening Day. 16.8 Crore unique viewers watched the broadcast of Tata IPL 2024 on Day one, registering a watch-time of 1276 Crore minutes – the highest ever for the opening day of any IPL season.
The Opening Day of Tata IPL 2024 on the Disney Star network, for the first time ever, featured eight of the 10 captains for the 17th season, reflecting on what the tournament has in store for them as well as the potential opportunities and challenges. This unfiltered account of the IPL captains’ expectations made for compelling viewing on Opening Day said the broadcaster.
The 17th season of Tata IPL, also witnessed the highest-ever peak TV concurrency for an IPL Opening Day, with 6.1 Crore viewers watching the broadcast simultaneously on the Disney Star network.
A Star Sports Spokesperson said, “This is a monumental achievement, made possible by fans’ love for Star Sports and an unwavering commitment of the network to ‘serving fans’. We would also like to thank all our partners and extend heartfelt gratitude to the BCCI for their support of the wide array of initiatives that Star Sports has continually undertaken to grow Cricket and Tata IPL. This growth is a reaffirmation of the incomparable capacity of Live Cricket to aggregate audiences on TV and provides a blockbuster start to the tournament. We will continue to enrich the magic of one of the world’s biggest sporting events to take forward the launch momentum and deliver unprecedented viewership.”
A line-up of talent comprising IPL title winners, World Cup champions, coaches and legends from the game presented the Opening Day. It saw Navjot Singh Sidhu return to the commentary box and other former cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth. It witnessed the debuts of Steve Smith and Stuart Broad, who join legends Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden, Kevin Pietersen, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn in presenting Tata IPL 2024. CSK’s former stars Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, L Balaji and Subramaniam Badrinath along with IPL champions Vinay Kumar and Venugopal Rao were at the forefront of Disney Star’s regional feeds in nine languages.
The ensemble of ~120 cricketers was complimented by national and regional celebrities as well as fan-favourite presenters and content creators, to deliver wholesome entertainment on the Opening Day.
The other drivers of the Opening Day viewership were Star Sports’ marketing campaign, programming initiatives and fan activations. The marketing campaign celebrated diverse shades of fandom associated with Tata IPL building anticipation for the start of the tournament while the network’s programming, committed to “serving fans”, delivered content catering to diverse audience cohorts to drive increased engagement.
The Star Nahi Far initiative which seeks to bring fans closer to their favourite superstars from the world of Cricket witnessed incredible turnouts across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kochi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Lucknow, helping galvanise fans across the country.
The TV viewership on the Opening Day comes on the back of a lead-up to the 17th season which attracted more than 24.5 Crore unique viewers till a week prior to the start of the tournament added the broadcaster.
Star Sports has also launched Tata IPL in 4K with Atmos sound across DTH platforms.
Star Sports has also launched a special feed for the differently abled with descriptive commentary and sign language interpretation, for the visually impaired, Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing fans, making this IPL truly inclusive. This is the first time for any marquee sporting event, anywhere in the world to have a Live feed for differently abled added the broadcaster.
The runner-up for the Graham Bell award for technology, introduced their AI technology which allowed international experts to engage with fans in their local languages.
