Live sports score big, keep fans glued across big & small screens
India's sports viewership is rapidly shifting to multiple platforms. Major events like the FIFA World Cup and IPL are drawing huge crowds on television, digital, and social media. Connected TV is growing fast, while traditional pay TV is declining...
Mumbai: India’s live sports market is becoming decisively multi-platform, with marquee properties such as the FIFA World Cup and the Indian Premier League (IPL) drawing massive audiences across television, digital, and social media, while accelerating a broader shift in advertising beyond linear TV.
The ongoing FIFA World Cup has reached 100 million viewers across television and digital platforms in India, while generating 360 million views across social media. Zee's sports channels have reached an estimated 25 million+ households nationwide, driven by the FIFA World Cup.
Similarly, the recently concluded IPL recorded 1.2 billion viewers across television and digital platforms, with 870 billion minutes of watch-time, up 7% year-on-year. The final between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans became the tournament’s most-watched match ever, reaching over 400 million viewers across screens.
The shift in sports viewing is becoming increasingly visible in audience behaviour, with connected TV emerging as the fastest-growing platform, posting 22% year-on-year growth during the IPL, while digital video views rose 8% to 25 billion. JioStar said the share of regional language watch-time on digital increased 33%, driven by higher consumption among affluent and younger viewers.
The rise of connected TV is coinciding with an erosion in traditional pay television. According to the FICCI-EY report, India lost 11 million pay TV households in 2025, while weekly active connected TV homes increased to about 40 million from 30 million in 2024, underscoring changing viewing habits.
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“IPL 2026 was a season in which we embarked on a journey to define what a truly integrated sports platform should look like,” said Ishan Chatterjee, CEO, Sports, JioStar. “The season-ending data is a testament to the efforts we made across platforms, with CTV’s communal experience and regional language presentation emerging as unprecedented growth drivers.”
Zee said its streaming platform Zee5 hosted millions of concurrent users over the FIFA World Cup opening weekend from June 11 to June 14, with average viewer engagement exceeding 190 minutes for live matches, including the inaugural ceremony.
A Zee Entertainment spokesperson said the scale of engagement witnessed over the opening weekend across its digital and linear platforms reflects the growing passion for football in India.
“With our multi-platform offerings, the focus has been on ensuring that the global sporting event is accessible to all, while delivering a seamless and uninterrupted viewing experience,” the spokesperson added.
The shift towards multi-platform sports consumption is also beginning to reshape advertising spending, with marketers increasingly allocating budgets beyond linear television to connected TV and mobile screens.
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According to WPP Media’s sports sponsorship report for 2025, media spending accounted for 51% of the $2 billion sports advertising market. Advertising investments rose 19.8% to Rs 9,571 crore, with digital growing faster at 24% to Rs 4,449 crore, compared with television’s 16.4% growth to Rs 5,117 crore.
JioStar said IPL 2026 attracted 125 new advertisers compared with last season, while 22 sponsors partnered with JioHotstar and 16 with the Star Sports Network. Likewise, Zee signed 12 advertisers, including Mahindra, Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Apple India, and Mondelez.
Sports viewership on linear television grew to 23.7 billion average weekly viewing minutes in 2025 from 22.4 billion in 2024, according to BARC data cited in the FICCI-EY report for all-India audiences aged two and above.
Comscore, in its The State of Sports 2025: India Edition report, said India’s sports economy has entered a decisive digital phase, driven by mobile-first behaviour and social engagement. In June 2025, 118 million Indians accessed sports content digitally, with 90% doing so exclusively on mobile devices, it added.
