JioStar to deepen ChatGPT integration as AI reshapes sports viewing

JioStar plans to deepen its integration with OpenAI’s ChatGPT after using the technology during IPL 2026 to enable viewers to interact with cricket content while watching live matches, Ishan Chatterjee, CEO, Sports, JioStar, said at FICCI Frames.

The company launched a deep product integration with ChatGPT during the IPL that went beyond conventional search. Viewers could ask questions about players and matches in natural language while watching the game and receive contextual information without interrupting their viewing experience.

“For the first time, while watching the game, a user sitting in, say, Jaipur, could ask in Hindi, what was Virat Kohli's strike rate in the last game and how did it compare with his career average?” Chatterjee said.


He said JioStar had seen “fantastic results” from the initiative and was making significant investments behind the partnership. More functionality through ChatGPT is expected in the coming months.

The integration is part of a broader technology push by JioStar to personalise sports viewing. The company has introduced new camera angles and feeds, including a Hero Cam that allows viewers to follow their favourite cricketer across the field.

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Language has become a major part of that personalisation strategy. English accounted for less than 10% of cricket watch time on JioStar during the latest season, while 90% came from Indian languages, according to Chatterjee. Haryanvi and Bhojpuri watch time were growing 300% year-on-year.

The shift reflects the increasing complexity of India's sports audience, with fans consuming the same match across different screens, languages and viewing environments.

Chatterjee said JioStar had also invested heavily in the underlying technology needed to support that scale. The company distributes traffic across multiple content delivery network providers so that traffic can automatically be rerouted if one provider experiences degradation. Its video player monitors the quality of the internet connection on a device in real time and serves the highest-quality feed that the connection can support.

These investments have helped JioStar handle increasingly large simultaneous audiences. Chatterjee said the platform recorded peak concurrency of 72.5 million during the last ICC T20 World Cup and holds nine of the top 10 global records for concurrency.

The scale of India's sports audience has also changed dramatically. Chatterjee said Indian sports had 500 million viewers in 2016, while IPL 2026 crossed 1.2 billion viewers.

JioStar is also looking beyond viewing to build commerce into the sports experience. Its integration with Swiggy allowed viewers to browse food, select items, complete transactions and track orders without leaving the streaming app.

Chatterjee said the experience generated “massive excitement and engagement” and that 30% of the transactions came from first-time Swiggy users. He said the experience could also create a different proposition for smaller and regional brands looking to scale their businesses.

JioStar has 350 days of live sports on its platform, which Chatterjee said creates multiple contextual opportunities to connect consumers with brands and services. The company also combines sports with its entertainment catalogue to create more such experiences.

The technology strategy extends across both mobile and connected TV. Chatterjee said the two platforms serve different purposes. Mobile offers a personal and interactive experience, while connected TV provides a larger canvas and a communal viewing environment.

The company sees similar opportunities emerging beyond cricket. Chatterjee said streaming had changed the economics of sports properties because they no longer necessarily need to meet the minimum audience or television rating thresholds that were required in the traditional broadcast environment.

JioStar's Pro Kabaddi League, he said, reached 200 million viewers last year, while the English Premier League crossed 100 million. Wimbledon and the US Open have also recorded rapid digital growth.

Chatterjee does not expect a single sport to emerge as India's clear second sport. Instead, he sees multiple sports building their own fan bases and ecosystems.

For JioStar, the underlying framework remains the same: build stories around players, create heroes and generate fandom.

Women's cricket is another area where the company expects significant growth. Chatterjee said JioStar was an early believer in women's cricket and was an original broadcast partner of the Women's Premier League.

The 2025 Women's World Cup marked a major inflection point, he said, reaching 446 million people, more than the aggregate reach of the previous three World Cups combined.

JioStar plans to increase its investment in women's cricket, not only through spending but also through production quality, broadcast capabilities and technologies such as AI and 3D. The company also plans to focus on storytelling around players and their journeys to build stronger heroes and fandom.

Looking ahead, Chatterjee sees the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics as another significant opportunity for cricket. The sport's return to the Olympics after more than 100 years could expose it to international audiences that may not otherwise encounter cricket through traditional channels.

For Indian audiences, he said, LA 2028 could bring together national pride and cricket fandom, with the prospect of India competing for gold in both the men's and women's events.

For JioStar, the evolution of sports viewing is consequently not just about putting more properties on more screens. It is about using technology, AI, personalisation, regional languages, commerce and storytelling to deepen the relationship between fans and sports, and to build multiple sports ecosystems alongside cricket.