JioCinema switches to displaying cumulative views for live sports

Mumbai: Viacom18-owned streaming platform JioCinema has switched to displaying the number of cumulative views for all live sporting events, including cricket, instead of peak concurrent viewers, which has been the norm till now. The platform started displaying cumulative views for a live match beginning with the India vs Australia ODI series that took place before the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. The cumulative views for India’s first and second T20 matches against Australia were 213 million and 220 million, respectively, people close to the matter said.

They said the platform is most likely to display cumulative views for the upcoming Indian Premier League matches as well, instead of peak concurrency that shows the highest number of viewers during a live stream. While JioCinema has not made any official statement on the change in display metrics, according to people in the know, the platform has told advertisers and media agencies that cumulative views are a more transparent and reliable measurement of viewer engagement.

“Views better represent the total engagement for each event, ensuring a transparent and standard data point for our audience and advertisers alike,” the company has told certain advertisers, according to one of the people. Viacom18 didn’t provide a comment until press time on Friday.

Media experts say that cumulative views are already the accepted currency for both YouTube and Meta. The billing for a digital video ad is also done based on impressions served, they add.

“Both cumulative views and peak concurrency are relevant metrics. However, advertisers are more concerned about the reach of their campaign than the tournament reach,” said Essence Mediacom South Asia chief executive Navin Khemka.