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The Walt Disney Company made an astute decision in choosing to stream the ICC Cricket World Cup—it helped them break a global streaming record.
The Walt Disney Company has been struggling lately when it comes to cracking the code to having a successful streaming business. For a few years, Disney was bullish about Disney+, its streaming platform, a strategy that many have criticized former Disney CEO Bob Chapek and Disney for endlessly. Since Disney CEO Bob Iger returned to take the mantle, he’s made it clear he’s going to be more cautious with his decisions about the company.
Disney CEO Bob Iger / Credit: Thomas Hawk, Flickr
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One of the markets that Disney has struggled in more than others is India; the market has proved challenging for the global entertainment conglomerate, with Disney even recently reportedly considering selling some of its assets in India, supposedly to Asia’s richest billionaire.
However, earlier this year, they took a risk when it came to how they chose to stream one specific sporting event, and it’s paid off.
Disney Breaks Huge Streaming Record With India-Pakistan Match
The Walt Disney Company gambled big earlier this year when they decided to stream the ICC World Cup for cricket for free on Disney+ Hotstar.
At the time, Disney+ Hotstar head Sajith Sivanandan described the change as a new “hybrid model” wherein the strategy is aimed at “boosting advertising revenues by increasing the volume of smartphone users accessing the service for free, while at the same time pulling in new subscribers for its paid plans.”
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That risk brought in views like none Disney had seen in a while, when the India-Pakistan match, which took place at Narendra Modi stadium, pulled in 35 million concurrent viewers, or 3.5 crore concurrent viewers.
The milestone surpasses the recent record of 32 million viewers set by Viacom18’s JioCinema, the platform backed by Mukesh Ambani (incidentally, he owns the company Disney is rumored to be selling assets to).
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Sajith Sivanandan, Head of Disney+ Hotstar India, addressed cricket fans, thanking them for tuning in. “We would like to thank all the fans who tuned in to watch the India-Pakistan match on Disney+ Hotstar. Your love for the game is what made it possible for Disney+ Hotstar to break all the previous records across all cricket formats and hit a peak concurrency number of 3.5 crore viewers,” said in a statement.
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He added, “As the cricketing rivalries continue, we’ll continue to honour our commitment towards delivering an unmatched viewing experience to all our users. We look forward to many more such experiences as the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup unfolds.”
One of the main reasons this success is helpful to Disney is because the company is presently looking for a buyer for Star India, which controls Hotstar, and top Disney executives will be flying to India after the ICC Cricket World Cup is over to sign the dotted line on the fate of the Disney India business.
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As TechCrunch reported, Disney has high hopes for the ICC World Cup, Disney reportedly “projected to marketers that it can reach over 50 million concurrent viewers in the tournament and reach 82% of the total annual video users in India during the nearly 50-day series.”
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