iWorld
ZEE5 unveils festive content line-up
Mumbai: ZEE5 has announced its new content line-up including over 30 AVOD premieres and 14 original SVOD new releases for the festive season 2021.
Enabling advertisers to enhance engagement using personalised tech and data-enabled cohorts and interest clusters, the OTT platform will facilitate brands to increase their market share across categories, including CPG, digital, auto, lifestyle, wellness, ed-tech, BFSI, SMB, and more, throughout the season.
The slate of multilingual AVOD premieres scheduled between October to December 2021 will engage multiple language affinity consumers such as Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, and Bangla across demographics, from metros to Tier II and III cities. Shows with a prominent star cast, multi-starrer exclusive line-ups of awards, events, and festive tentpoles have been announced to entertain viewers and act as vehicles for brand integrations.
Recently the OTT platform also came up with an Intelligence Monitor report to add incremental value to its range of advertisers by decoding the latest and imminent consumption trends, consumer preferences and discovering new insights across various product and service categories.
ZEEL chief operations officer – revenue, Rajiv Bakshi said, “It is the biggest consumption period across all product and service categories and therefore we have strategised the finest content line-up that will enable brands to plan hyper-personalised marketing campaigns to grow their market shares and brand engagement. ZEE5 extends strategic advantage to clients as it offers a gender-balanced, young, and massive viewer base for brand integration and influencer marketing solutions on its impact properties, and the massive reach and video inventory across entertainment, news, and premium CTV.”
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.
