iWorld
JioCinema to showcase the most comprehensive Olympics coverage for Paris 2024
Mumbai: Viacom18, the official broadcast and digital partner for Paris 2024, announced the biggest and most immersive Olympics presentation yet in India, with 20 concurrent feeds and a roster of Olympians, starting 26 July 2024, across the Sports18 Network and for free on JioCinema. The network has lined-up an extra-ordinary list of former champions across multiple sporting disciplines to amplify the most comprehensive Olympics presentation ever. It also, launched its campaign film ‘Dum Laga Ke… Haisha’, promising an Olympics like never seen before.
For the first time, Olympics coverage in India will be presented across 20 concurrent feeds on JioCinema for free, allowing fans to catch their preferred action and Indian performances at the Olympic Games anytime, anywhere on their preferred device. The presentation will have 17 sports-wise feeds and three curated feeds, all available in 4K. The curated feeds will include an India feed in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu, which allows viewers to catch all the action from the Indian contingent as it unfolds on-ground.
In a never-seen-before endeavour, a women athletes feed will exclusively capture the journey of women Olympians for the entire edition. The curated feeds will also feature a global action feed in English and Hindi, thus allowing viewers to track the finest athletes in the world in action at Paris 2024.
Embed link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uhYFCgpSnc
On linear platforms, Sports18 – 1, Sports18 – 1 HD, Sports18 – 2 will run India focused feed, Global Action will be available on Sports18 – 3. Sports18 – 1 and Sports18 – 1 HD will present the Games in English with Tamil and Telugu available on language button. Sports18 – 2 will offer the Paris 2024 in Hindi.
The immersive coverage tips off with a dedicated camera feed on the India float throughout the opening ceremony giving viewers a ring-side view of the Indian contingent. In addition, viewers will be able to enjoy coverage of Indian medal moments with live interviews with their family members alongside a domain expert from the studio.
“Our presentation of Paris 2024 is built on the idea of putting viewers front and centre as our athletes aim for glory. For the first time in India, an Olympics presentation will have a dedicated Indian feed, a women athletes feed, and a global action feed, giving fans high autonomy with a lean-in experience as they follow the Games,” said Viacom18 – sports head of content Siddharth Sharma. “We strive to capture the inspiring journeys of Indian athletes and rally the country to back our heroes through our never-seen-before Olympic experience.”
India’s first female wrestling Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik (2016 Summer Olympics) will be joined by Beijing 2008 bronze medallist boxer Vijender Singh. Four-time Olympian and six-time Grand Slam winner and the first Indian woman to be ranked number one in the WTA rankings, Sania Mirza will be joined by Commonwealth and Asian Games gold medallist, Somdev Devvarman. World No seven long jumper and Commonwealth Games medallist, Murali Sreeshankar will be seen in a whole new avatar as Viacom18’s expert during the Olympics.
The studio line-up will also feature former Indian Men’s Hockey Team Captain Viren Rasquinha, Commonwealth Games gold medallist shuttler Parupalli Kashyap, multiple Asian Games medallist and World Doubles Championship gold medallist squash icon Saurav Ghosal, and India’s two-time Olympic archer Atanu Das will add gravitas to Viacom18’s line-up.
In the lead up to the quadrennial sporting spectacle, Viacom18, the official broadcast and digital partner for Paris 2024, also launched “Dum Laga Ke…Haisha!”, its campaign film for the Olympic Games. The campaign film builds on the philosophy of Olympics unlike anything seen before, breaking away from the conventional advertising template employed by past global sporting events for the Indian market such as tropes of serious looking athletes training to motivational voiceovers. It takes a fresh approach instead, by intertwining the magnitude of the Olympics as a global movement and its impact on our daily Indian lives.
“We wanted to keep the campaign idea rooted in the transformative power of viewing sports. The film is our ode to the Olympic spirit and imagines a world where watching the Olympics vicariously, inspires us to push ourselves like runners, boxers, gymnasts, archers and weightlifters in our quotidian lives. We married this idea with a re-imagination of the timeless chant ‘Dum Laga Ke Haisha! that’s deeply ingrained in the Indian spirit of movement and sports, into multiple regional languages to ignite excitement for the Olympics across the country,” said JioCinema’s head of brand and creative marketing, Shagun Seda. “To bring our concept to life, we partnered with Jugaad Motion Pictures who brought in a fresh approach and elevated the concept to a rich audio-visual experience.”
Viacom18’s comprehensive coverage of Paris 2024 includes content around must-watch events for India fans, Indians to watch out for at the Olympics, greatest performances in Olympics history, unprecedented landmarks Indians can achieve at Paris 2024, and much more.
Here’s the full list of Viacom18’s experts for Paris 2024-
|
Domain |
Expert |
|
Core Group |
Sania Mirza |
|
Core Group |
Viren Rasquinha |
|
Core Group |
Somdev Devvarman |
|
Core Group |
Neha Aggarwal |
|
Core Group |
Nisha Millet |
|
Core Group |
Murali Sreeshankar |
|
Core Group |
Saurav Ghoshal |
|
Archery |
Rahul Banerjee |
|
Archery |
Atanu Das |
|
Badminton |
P Kashyap |
|
Boxing |
Vijender Singh |
|
Hockey |
Jugraj Singh |
|
Shooting |
Heena Sidhu |
|
Shooting |
Joydeeep Karmakar |
|
Swimming |
Virdhawal Khade |
|
Wrestling |
Sakshi Malik |
MUMBAI: If cricket were a binge-worthy series, this one just dropped its most explosive pilot yet. The opening weekend of the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League has come out swinging, smashing records across both television and digital platforms and reaffirming the tournament’s unmatched pull in India’s sporting and media landscape.
Backed by two high-octane matches featuring 200-plus run chases, the tournament delivered a combined reach of over 515 million viewers across linear TV and digital platforms via JioStar’s broadcast ecosystem, including Star Sports and JioHotstar. More tellingly, engagement surged alongside reach, with total watch-time hitting 32.6 billion minutes, a sharp 26 per cent jump over the opening weekend of the previous season.
The numbers reveal a deeper shift in how India watches cricket. Connected TV (CTV) consumption rose by 30 per cent, while peak concurrency on digital platforms jumped 61 per cent, signalling a growing appetite for shared, big-screen streaming experiences. On traditional television, the momentum held strong, with TV ratings (TVR) climbing 24 per cent compared to earlier seasons’ opening matches.
A key driver of this spike has been the evolution of the viewing experience itself. This season introduced differentiated feeds, most notably a Hindi CTV broadcast featuring cricketing voices such as Ravichandran Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag and Irfan Pathan. Blending expert analysis with a watch-along format, the feed has added a conversational, almost second-screen feel without requiring viewers to leave their screens.
According to JioStar CEO for Sports Ishan Chatterjee, at the opening weekend underscores not just scale but also the depth of engagement that live cricket continues to command. He noted that the combination of large-screen viewing and digital interactivity is creating a more immersive and personalised experience, while also delivering tangible outcomes for brand partners.
From the league’s perspective, the early numbers point to a tournament that continues to reinvent itself. Arun Singh Dhumal, Chairman of the IPL, said the strong start reflects how high-quality cricket paired with enhanced viewing formats is resonating with audiences nationwide, while Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Devajit Saikia highlighted the “quality of engagement” as a key takeaway, not just the scale.
Commercially too, the opening weekend signals robust advertiser confidence. The broadcast is led by co-presenting sponsors including Google (Search AI Mode), Campa Energy, and Havells & Lloyd, alongside co-powered partners such as Birla Opus, Hero Motocorp and Amazon. A long tail of associate sponsors from OpenAI and Asian Paints to Flipkart and Amul further reflects the league’s unmatched ability to aggregate advertiser interest at scale.
Taken together, the opening weekend numbers are less a spike and more a statement. With 515 million viewers, 32.6 billion minutes of watch-time, and double-digit growth across formats, IPL 2026 has not just started strong, it has set the tone for a season that looks poised to push the boundaries of both sport and spectacle.
