Sports
JioHotstar hits record 821 million concurrent views as India crushed New Zealand
A record-breaking night for JioHotstar as the Men in Blue clinch a third crown
AHMEDABAD: It turns out that there is indeed something more crowded than a Mumbai local at rush hour: the JioHotstar servers during a World Cup final. On Sunday night, as India dismantled New Zealand to secure their third ICC Men’s T20 World Cup title, the digital world didn’t just watch; it collectively held its breath.
The newly minted streaming giant recorded a staggering 82.1 crore (821 million) concurrent views. To put that in perspective, that is roughly ten times the population of Germany tuning in to watch twenty-two men chase a leather ball under the Saharan heat of the Ahmedabad floodlights.
The match itself was less of a contest and more of a coronation. Abhishek Sharma provided the initial spark, but it was Sanju Samson who truly brought the house down with a bruising 89. By the time India reached 255, the Kiwis looked like they were trying to stop a landslide with a toothpick.
When it was time to bowl, Jasprit Bumrah reminded the world why he is essentially a cheat code in human form. His 4 for 15 ensured the New Zealand chase never really left the runway, eventually folding for 159.
While the players were hitting sixes, the marketing departments were hitting gold mines. With nearly a billion sets of eyes glued to the screen, the cost per second for a slot on JioHotstar reportedly reached levels usually reserved for private islands and small spacecraft.
Brands moved away from traditional storytelling, opting for “blink and you miss it” micro-ads designed to capture the frantic attention of a mobile-first audience. Advertisers reportedly shelled out upwards of Rs 50 lakh for a mere 10-second spot, with some premium 20-second slots fetching a cool Rs 1 crore. From rapid-delivery grocery apps promising snacks in under 10 minutes (ideally before the next over) to car manufacturers launching models via on-pitch QR codes that saw over 5 million scans in a single hour, the boundary between sport and shopping has never been thinner. By the final wicket, JioStar was projected to have raked in over Rs 2,000 crore in ad revenue from this single tournament.
The real winner, aside from Suryakumar Yadav’s men, was the infrastructure. In a country where the internet can sometimes be as temperamental as a sticky wicket, the platform stayed upright under the weight of 821 million people.
It was a night where the Buffering wheel was nowhere to be seen, replaced instead by the sight of blue shirts hoisting silverware. India is champions again, and the world of broadcasting has a new, incredibly high bar to clear.
Sports
JioStar terminates Bangladesh IPL and WPL broadcast rights deals
Payment defaults lead to licence cancellations and potential legal action.
MUMBAI: When the money stops flowing in cricket’s biggest cash cow, even the sub-licence holders can find themselves suddenly bowled out. JioStar India Private Limited has terminated its Bangladesh sub-licence agreements for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Women’s Premier League (WPL) after the counterparty, Excel Lead IT Solutions FZ-LLC (holding company of broadcaster T-Sports), failed to clear outstanding dues.
The agreements, originally signed with Viacom18 (now part of JioStar) and later novated to Excel Lead, covered digital media rights for the IPL and WPL in Bangladesh for the 2023–27 seasons. In early January 2026, JioStar issued a demand notice for unpaid amounts related to the IPL 2025 and WPL 2025 seasons. Despite providing full access to matches and allowing complete commercial exploitation, the dues remained unpaid even after the cure period expired.
As a result, all licensed rights have automatically reverted to JioStar. The company has demanded immediate payment of all outstanding dues along with overdue interest and costs, and has instructed Excel Lead (T-Sports) to immediately cease any broadcast, streaming, promotion or exploitation of the rights in Bangladesh. Any continued use would constitute unauthorised exploitation.
JioStar is also considering legal proceedings, including interim and injunctive relief, to protect the commercial value of these high-profile cricket properties.
In a separate development, JioStar has invoked arbitration against Green Bean Sports Marketing (an affiliate of Gazi TV Bangladesh) over a sublicensing agreement for IPL television media rights in Bangladesh for the 2023–27 seasons. The agreement was terminated in January 2025 due to contractual breaches and payment issues.
Industry sources say JioStar remains confident in the judicial process and is determined to recover all outstanding amounts, including interest and litigation costs, in full.
The developments highlight a growing zero-tolerance approach by rights holders towards payment defaults and unauthorised exploitation in South Asia’s lucrative sports media market, where marquee cricket properties continue to command premium valuations.
In the high-stakes game of cricket broadcasting, it seems JioStar has decided that when payments don’t come, the game stops and the rights go back to the rightful owner.
