IPL 2024: Star Sports records biggest opening day ever; 17 crore tune in

Day 1 witnessed the highest-ever peak TV concurrency with 6.1 crore viewers watching the IPL broadcast simultaneously on the Disney Star network

CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and RCB captain Faf du Plessis during the IPL 2024 season opener in Chennai. Sportzpics

FirstCricket Staff|Mar 28, 2024, 15:06:13 IST

Disney Star, official broadcaster of the IPL this season, started the 17th season with a record-breaking opening day. 16.8 Crore unique viewers watched the broadcast of IPL 2024 on Day 1, registering a watch-time of 1276 crore minutes – the highest ever for the opening day of any IPL season. The data does, however, not include the IPL 2020 season which was affected by the coronavirus pandemic and bubble.

The day also witnessed the highest-ever peak TV concurrency with 6.1 crore viewers watching the broadcast simultaneously on the Disney Star network.

A star-studded line-up of talent comprising IPL title winners, World Cup champions, coaches and legends of the game presented the Opening Day. It saw Navjot Singh Sidhu return to the commentary box and join India’s World Cup winners Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Ravi Shastri, Sunil Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth. It witnessed debuts of Steve Smith and Stuart Broad, who join legends Brian Lara, Matthew Hayden, Kevin Pietersen, Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn in presenting the IPL. CSK’s former stars Ambati Rayudu, Murali Vijay, L Balaji and Subramaniam Badrinath along with IPL champions Vinay Kumar and Venugopal Rao were at the forefront of the broadcaster's regional feeds in nine languages.

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The record-breaking TV viewership on Day 1 comes on the back of an incredible lead-up to the 17th season which attracted more than 24.5 crore unique viewers till a week prior to the start of the tournament.

A Star Sports Spokesperson said, “This is a monumental achievement, made possible by fans’ love for Star Sports and an unwavering commitment of the network to ‘serving fans’. We would also like to thank all our partners and extend heartfelt gratitude to the BCCI for their support of the wide array of initiatives that Star Sports has continually undertaken to grow Cricket and TATA IPL. This growth is a reaffirmation of the incomparable capacity of Live Cricket to aggregate audiences on TV and provides a blockbuster start to the tournament. We will continue to enrich the magic of one of the world’s biggest sporting events to take forward the launch momentum and deliver unprecedented viewership.”

In comparison, JioCinema, the digital streaming partner, clocked 11.3 crore viewers on the first day of the IPL. The streamer registered a 51% jump over day one of IPL 2023. The total watch time on JioCinema on day 1 was 660 crore minutes.

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