Viewership record broken in India-New Zealand match: More than 5.3 crore people watched the World Cup semi-final on OTT

The World Cup-2023 semi-final match which was played between India and New Zealand has broken all viewership records. It was live watched by more than 5.3 crore people on the OTT platform, Disney Plus Hotstar. This is the first time that so many people watched any cricket match live on OTT.

Before this, about 4.4 crore people watched India and South Africa match that was played on November 5. About 33 thousand spectators were present in the match played between India and New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

The broadcast rights of World Cup matches are reserved by Star Sports Network. Apart from this, fans can also watch live streaming on Disney Plus Hotstar for free. OTT platform Disney Plus Hotstar had announced on June 9 that users will be able to watch all the matches of Asia Cup 2023 and ICC Men's Cricket ODI World Cup 2023 for free on the app.

According to media sources, Hotstar is trying to use the method of Mukesh Ambani's Jio Cinema to increase its viewership. Jio Cinema had shown all the matches of IPL 2023 for free, due to which the company got record viewership.

Ambani's media venture had left behind many other companies including Disney + Hotstar to acquire the digital rights of IPL. Since then, paid subscribers of Disney + Hotstar are continuously decreasing in India.

Disney+Hotstar has lost approximately 2.37 crore paid subscribers in a year. This also includes a decline of 28 lakh customers in the last quarter. The total customer base of OTT has declined to 3.76 crore in the quarter ending September 2023, from 6.13 crore in October last year.