Market research agency Nielsen has collaborated with JioHotstar, the digital platform of the Reliance-Disney joint venture (called JioStar), to provide audience measurement data and analysis of the Indian Premier League (IPL), among the world’s largest sporting leagues valued at $12 billion. JioStar currently has the television and digital rights of the IPL.
This is also the first time that a third-party agency will provide digital viewership data of the mega property, similar to what the Broadcast Audience Research Council of India (BARC) does for television channels in terms of viewership measurement of TV shows and sports tournaments.
“As a trusted leader in audience measurement for over 100 years, Nielsen is committed to supporting the evolving needs of advertisers with data-driven insights,” Arnaud Frade, president (commercial), Asia, said.
JioStar will kick off the initiative with the 2025 edition of IPL, extending the same to other digital properties on JioHotstar. The arrangement will be long term, said sources, with subsequent editions of the IPL on JioStar also part of the initiative. JioStar has IPL media rights till 2027.
While JioStar and Nielsen did not provide financial details of the arrangement, digital measurement is expected to plug a critical gap for advertisers who had to depend on their own analysis or what the over-the-top (OTT) platform would provide them in terms of data in previous years of the IPL. This exercise is expected to be a test case for Disney and Reliance who will broadcast the IPL as a merged entity since coming together in November 2024.
On Friday, JioStar announced that it had merged its two streaming paltforms — Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema — ahead of the IPL. Subscribers of the two platforms could seamlessly transition to JioHotstar, with the company rolling out “affordable” tariff plans to improve viewership.
The IPL, for perspective, is among the country’s most-viewed TV and digital properties. The 2024 edition of the T20 league, for instance, clocked a TV audience reach of over 550 million on Star Sports. While the digital reach of IPL 2024 on JioCinema was around 550-600 million.
“Through our association with Nielsen, we aim to redefine how advertising on digital/OTT is measured and delivered across India’s most iconic entertainment and sports properties,” Ishan Chatterjee, chief business officer, sports revenue, SMB & Creator, JioStar, said.
Under the arrangement, Nielsen will deploy advanced tools such as Nielsen ONE Ads (which is Nielsen’s DAR — digital ad ratings) and the newly-developed volumetric and reach analysis on the platform to provide insights into viewership and ad performance.
The metrics will be accessible through the Nielsen One dashboard, enabling advertisers to gain valuable insights including impressions, clicks, campaign reach and on-target reach delivered by their campaigns on JioHotstar. Chatterjee said that the offering would address the industry’s need for measurement solutions while enhancing the transparency in advertising performance. Financial Express