iWorld
India shared 3.5 million posts per hour on Independence Day: ShareChat
Mumbai: ShareChat, India’s leading multilingual social media platform, recently collaborated with the ministry of culture and ministry of Home Affairs for the Independence Day campaign- ‘#Anekta mei Ekta‘. The campaign aimed to celebrate & empower Indians by generating mass awareness and driving engagement on the platform. On 15 August, over 20 million users logged into ShareChat before 7 am. The platform garnered 3.5 million shares per hour in the first few hours.
Social media has become a platform of expression and virtual celebrations for users, even when it comes to celebrating patriotism. The leading trending tag on ShareChat during Independence Day was #SwantantraDiwasKiShubhkamnaein (equivalents in other languages), which amassed 170,000 creations, 750 million views, and 16 million shares in 15 languages.
Talking about the heightened engagement on the platform, ShareChat and Moj Sr. director- of content strategy & operations Shashank Shekhar said, “Indians are certainly enthusiastic about celebrating festivals, and occasions and showering their love for their country on our platforms. We are genuinely grateful to our community of creators, hosts, and users who bring these special days to life through our platforms. For Independence Day ShareChat creators crafted 500,000 pieces of content and the theme of patriotism, which garnered over 2 billion views. One ShareChat creator received 550,000 shares on her posts on patriotism. On Moj, creators curated 745,000 videos, accumulating 1.2 billion video plays. When it comes to representing India, its culture, and society, nothing compares to ShareChat and Moj.”
A set of tricoloured virtual gifts were also introduced on the platforms to celebrate the occasion. Users gifted 1.5 million Independence Day-themed virtual gifts on Moj and ShareChat. Over 300,000 live streams took place on ShareChat audio and Moj video live including flag hoisting events, poetry readings, musical gatherings, quizzes, and debates on Indian history. One of the top hosts on Moj received virtual gifts worth Rs 818,000, while the top creator on ShareChat received virtual gifts worth Rs 850,000.
Patriotism without music is somewhat incomplete. Both ShareChat & Moj have a diverse range of music given different languages and cultural nuances. ‘Desh Mere’, sung by Arijit Singh from the 2021 movie Bhuj topped the charts in content creation with users creating 124,000 videos using this song, garnering 94 million video plays. Apart from this, songs like ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’ dominated in Punjabi, Bangla, Telugu, Marathi, and Odia languages, ‘Mera Rang De Basanti Chola’ in Hindi, and ‘Bharathambe Ninna Januma Dina’ in Kannada.
To understand more about how India commemorated Independence Day on the internet, read here.
iWorld
T20 World Cup ’26: India–England semi-final sets global streaming record of 619 million views on JioHotstar
India–England semi-final records 65.2 million peak streams
MUMBAI: The ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 set a new milestone in global sports streaming, as the India–England semi-final drew record digital audiences on JioHotstar.
The match on 5 March registered 65.2 million peak concurrent viewers, the highest ever recorded for a live event on any streaming platform worldwide. The semi-final also generated 619 million views, making it the most streamed T20 international match in history.
The landmark audience numbers were driven largely by viewers in India, setting a record achieved within a single market, rather than through aggregated viewership across multiple countries.
The high-scoring encounter between India national cricket team and England cricket team produced 499 runs across both innings, fuelling widespread fan engagement across platforms.
According to the International Cricket Council, the digital record surpassed the previous global benchmark of 65 million concurrent viewers, set in November 2024 by another international streaming platform.
Across television and digital platforms combined, the semi-final reached more than 320 million viewers, while total watch time exceeded 23 billion minutes, making it the most watched T20 international match ever.
“This World Cup demonstrates the immense passion of cricket fans and the progress made in bringing the game closer to audiences worldwide,” said ICC chairman Jay Shah.
“This moment reflects the scale of cricket fandom in India and the technological capability required to serve hundreds of millions of viewers simultaneously.”
JioStar vice-chairman Uday Shankar, said the audience surge underscored the future of large-scale digital entertainment.
“One in every three Indians tuned in to watch the second semi-final. Delivering such an experience at scale requires the very best of technology,” he said.
The 619 million views during the match also eclipsed the 533 million views recorded during the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
With the final yet to be played, the 2026 tournament has already set multiple benchmarks in audience reach and digital engagement.
India will face the New Zealand national cricket team in the final on 8 March at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The match will be broadcast on the Star Sports Network and streamed on JioHotstar.
