In its marketing pitch to sponsors, the streaming behemoth stated that the month-long T20 competition, which will take place in the West Indies and the United States from June 1 to 29, has the potential to reach over 450 million viewers.
Between March and August, it has offered brands an additional 150 million incremental reach with entertainment shows like Showtime Part 1 and 2, Kaphal, Special Ops 2A, Pratipashchandra, and Abhimanyu.
“Disney+ Hotstar will stream the T20 World Cup for free on mobile, having achieved tremendous success with the 50-over WC in 2023,” said a source close to the development, adding that CTV audiences will have to subscribe to either Rs 299/three months or Rs 499/three months plans to stream the event.
Disney Star declined to comment on the development. In 2022, it shelled out $3 billion for the ICC TV and digital rights for the 2024-27 cycle.
The streaming giant, with over 38 million paid customers and 500 million app downloads, introduced free mobile streaming of major sports events like the Asia Cup and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, followed by the Pro Kabaddi League in 2023.Before streaming these events for free, Disney+ Hotstar had kept live sports behind the paywall. However, rival JioCinema’s free sports streaming of premium properties like the FIFA World Cup and Indian Premier League (IPL) prompted it to follow suit.Disney+ Hotstar’s free strategy for live sports has yielded significant results, as it attracted a record number of viewers for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
As per the platform’s internal analytics, it achieved a significant reach during the marquee 50-over tournament, with over 550 million unique users tuning in to the platform during the tournament.
Furthermore, the tournament was live-streamed on Disney+ Hotstar by 295 million unique viewers, representing 61% of the Indian OTT universe. The tournament reached 57 million unique viewers on 16.2 million CTV devices.
The platform also set back-to-back peak concurrency records as a result of the free mobile streaming, with the final match between India and Australia establishing a global record of 59 million peak concurrent users.
Disney+ Hotstar is seeking sponsorship outlays of Rs 80 crore, Rs 55 crore, and Rs 30 crore from co-presenting, powered-by, and associate sponsors, respectively, for the event.
It is demanding spot rates of Rs 13 lakh per 10 seconds for mobile and Rs 6.5 lakh per 10 seconds for CTV. For just India matches, the 10-second rate goes up to Rs 35 lakh and Rs 18 lakh on mobile and CTV, respectively.
The live mid-roll cost-per-thousand-impression (CPM) rates for the entire tournament are Rs 230 and Rs 500 per 10 seconds for India and play-off matches. For CTV, the CPM rates are Rs 480 and Rs 1050 per 10 seconds for the entire tournament and India matches, respectively.
