iWorld
JioStar ropes in Hyundai as CTV sponsor for T20 World Cup 2026
MUMBAI: Cricket, cars and connected screens are converging. JioStar has signed up Hyundai Motor India Limited as the connected TV co-powered sponsor for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 on JioHotstar, tightening the link between premium sport and premium screens.
Announced in Mumbai on 3 February 2026, the deal positions Hyundai at the centre of JioStar’s large-screen digital play, where live sport is fast migrating from cable boxes to internet-enabled televisions. JioStar, the official broadcaster for the tournament, is pitching itself as a results-driven platform that blends scale, data and immersive viewing.
The tie-up also extends Hyundai Motor Company’s global partnership with the International Cricket Council, under which it is a premier partner across men’s and women’s tournaments in six major ICC events between 2026 and 2027. The India arm’s pact with JioStar aims to carry that presence from stadiums into living rooms, stitching together on-ground spectacle and at-home streaming.
At the heart of the pitch is connected TV, now one of the fastest-growing routes to sports audiences in India. The format offers the visual heft of television with the targeting and measurement of digital, promising advertisers not just eyeballs but outcomes—recall, engagement and performance. For brands chasing high-attention households, live cricket remains the ultimate lure.
Anup Govindan, head – sports sales at JioStar, framed the shift as structural.
“Premium sports properties like the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup are powerful growth catalysts, and connected TV is increasingly the screen where these moments are experienced most meaningfully. This partnership with Hyundai Motor India Limited reflects a clear shift toward platform-led, long-term collaborations that prioritise effectiveness and outcomes. JioStar’s connected TV ecosystem delivers unmatched scale across premium households, incremental digital reach, and a high-attention environment that allows brands to drive real business metrics across brand and performance objectives.”
Tarun Garg, managing director and chief executive of Hyundai Motor India Limited, underlined cricket’s commercial muscle.
“Cricket is woven into the cultural fabric of India, with marquee ICC events generating billions of minutes of cumulative viewership, making it one of the most powerful platforms for brand engagement in the country. Our partnership with JioStar for connected TV advertising during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 enables us to connect with audiences where premium, live sports consumption is rapidly moving. With over 60 million Indian households accessing content via connected TV, this medium offers the immersive impact of television combined with the precision of digital. This collaboration builds on Hyundai Motor Company’s global association with the International Cricket Council and represents a natural partnership, bringing together HMIL’s scale, innovation and deep consumer connect with JioStar’s unmatched digital reach and leadership in premium sports streaming to deliver high-impact, future-ready brand storytelling.”
JioStar says its CTV stack helps brands find incremental reach among digital-first viewers and cord-cutters, while managing frequency across linear and digital without waste. The promise is a unified strategy: one campaign, many screens, measurable returns.
As cricket’s shortest format chases the longest tail of digital growth, sponsors are following the signal. The remote control is now an ad-tech tool, the living room a data point. In India’s streaming era, the boundary rope runs straight through the big screen.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
