On the back of Reliance-backed JioCinema’s decision to stream the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) for free, connected TV (CTV) advertising spots have been seeing a rise as the cricket tournament progresses, according to a report by audience measurement and advertising research firm TAM Media.

CTV ad spots (average ad spots per match) rose to 94 in week 4 of IPL from 78 spots in week 1, seeing a 20% growth, a report by the firm said.

JioCinema is streaming the IPL for free on connected TV and mobile devices. The report’s data was based on the English streaming feed of the IPL. Hence, it indicates high advertiser interest for accessing premium audiences via CTVs.

Meanwhile, linear TV ad spots saw a sharp decline, falling to 40 ad spots per match by the fourth week of IPL from 66 in week 1, as per a BARC report.

Indicating the rising popularity of digital content and the falling interest of advertisers in linear TV, CTV had 88 ad spots per match in the first four weeks of the T20 tournament as compared to 52 ad spots per match for linear TV, as per the TAM Media report.

CTV largely refers to any TV set connected to the internet like smart TVs as well as those connected via TV sticks such as Amazon Fire Sticks. On the other hand, linear TV is defined as TV sets which can air content only through traditional distributors such as cable operators and DTH platforms such as Tata Sky, Dish TV.

With rising internet penetration and improving access to smartphones, traditional TV viewing is on a decline in the country as consumers are moving to CTVs and phones for consuming content. Over the next five years, CTV advertising is set to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 47% in India, according to a report by Finecast, a GroupM-owned addressable TV company.

The report also said that 80% of linear or traditional TV users are intending to switch to CTVs soon. Currently, 20-22 Mn homes in India have internet-enabled CTVs. This could see brands increasing their CTV ad spends to $395 Mn by 2027 from $86 Mn in 2023.

JioCinema has attracted 25 sponsors so far for the ongoing season of the marquee cricket tournament, a 2X growth compared to Disney+ Hotstar’s 13 sponsors for IPL 2022.

While gaming unicorn Dream11 has joined as the co-presenting sponsor for digital streaming of IPL, JioMart, PhonePe and Tiago have joined as co-powered sponsors, JioCinema said. Other new-age companies such as Rapido, Amazon and Spotify have also associated with JioCinema for the tournament.

Last year, Viacom18 acquired the digital streaming rights for the IPL for a whopping INR 23,758 Cr for the 2023-2027 period. Subsequently, it decided to stream IPL for free to attract more users, while Disney is broadcasting the tournament on linear TV.

JioCinema claimed to have seen 5 Cr new app downloads during the opening weekend of the T20 tournament. It said it clocked over 147 Cr video views during the first weekend and attracted 10 Cr new viewers.