After the FIFA World Cup, JioCinema plans to livestream all the drama behind the selection of players by the Indian Premier League’s 10 franchises on December 23. The platform will livestream the auction for free starting from 2:30 pm local time.
Viacom18, the broadcasting joint venture run by Reliance Industries, has made JioCinema a platform for live sports. JioCinema recorded 110 million viewers for the recently concluded FIFA World Cup and surpassed the TV audience, making India one of the biggest digital video markets for the football tournament in terms of viewers.
To keep the traction high for sports enthusiasts, the digital platform has amped up the coverage of the IPL auction. JioCinema will offer a choice of camera views, allowing viewers to select the auction livestream they want to watch.
Viacom18 bagged the digital rights for the IPL in India and the Indian subcontinent for the 2023-27 cycle for Rs 20,500 crore in June. It also secured non-exclusive international rights for Rs 3,257.5 crore.
During Reliance Industries’ 45th annual general meeting, Akash Ambani, chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm, said the rollout of 5G services will make the IPL telecast more interactive.
He said sporting events such as the Tata IPL 2023 will be interactive because of the giga-bit speeds of JioAirFiber that will let viewers opt for multiple screen options and multiple camera angles at the same time in ultra-high definition. Viewers will be able to adjust the camera accordingly while previewing other options, Ambani said.
Expert panels
The IPL auction will be streamed in ultra-high definition for the first time on devices that have 4K resolution including phones, tablets, and laptops.
The franchises have shortlisted 405 cricketers that are set to go under the hammer in Kochi from an initial list of 991 players.
In addition to the technology, JioCinema will get experts to decode the player selection strategies of the teams during the auction. IPL icons Suresh Raina, Chris Gayle, AB de Villiers, Anil Kumble, Robin Uthappa, RP Singh, Eoin Morgan, and Scott Styris will form JioCinema’s expert panel, bringing fans comprehensive and in-depth coverage.
Raina, popularly known as Mr IPL, will headline the Hindi coverage alongside former India left-arm pacer RP Singh.
Former Indian men’s head coach Kumble, IPL stalwart Uthappa, England’s World Cup-winning captain Morgan, and former New Zealand all-rounder Styris will be part of the English panel.
The IPL player auction will be streamed in six languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam – on JioCinema.
For the FIFA World Cup 2022, JioCinema enhanced the live experience with Hype Mode, which allowed viewers to watch matches from multiple angles. It also offered a feature that let viewers go back a few seconds, filters, camera angles, and more.
The platform provided details and statistics about teams during a match and showed the best possible angle of the highlights of a match.
FIFA World Cup 2022: Football comes of age with Jio Cinema, reach crosses 110 million
Disclosure: Moneycontrol is a part of the Network18 group. Network18 is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.
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