RCB’s first IPL title in 18 years tops viewership of India-Pakistan ICC Clash at 67 cr views

IPL final

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) clinching the winning title at the 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) made June 3 a historic day for the tournament as well as for Virat Kohli who has stood by the team since the beginning and his star power broke the internet and took the final match viewership to new heights.

"I have given this team my youth, my prime, and everything I have, and finally, this moment has come. It is an unbelievable feeling. I never thought this moment would come. Finally, I have won the IPL," Kohli said after his maiden IPL win.

IPL 2025 final recorded over 67.8 crore views on the official streaming platform Jiostar, higher than the India-Pakistan clash during the ICC Championship in February this year.

The nail-biting final between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and RCB started with 4.3 crore views and picked up quickly with Phil Salt's sixes and soared even higher when PBKS skipper Shreyas Iyer dismissed Salt. By the 11th over, views reached over 11 crore.

When PBKS knocked out Kohli at 43, views reached 26.5 crore. With Jitesh Sharma changing the momentum for RCB with a strong inning, views touched 30 crore. Three back-to-back wickets derailed the momentum for RCB, which stood at 190 runs in 20 overs, and views reached 34.7 crore. By the end of the RCB innings, views touched 35 crore.

It was Krunal Pandya's game-changing bowling spell that sealed the deal for the men in red.

Punjab opened its innings with a four, taking the views to 37.2 crore, but soon the wicket of Prabhsimran Singh, bowled by Pandya, not only changed the game on the field but also in terms of viewership, with views nearing 50 crore.

RCB chants reverberated in the Narendra Modi stadium by the ninth over.

The hopes of the team finally winning the IPL cup led to record viewership which increased from 55 crore by the 14th over to 63 crore views when RCB closed the finale with style.

Just before the team held the IPL cup, views crossed 67.8 crore online.

The views on the over-the-top (OTT) platform are not unique views, which means that if a viewer opens the app/platform 10 times, the number of views for the single viewer will be counted as 10 views.

JioHotstar, which came into being after the merger of Disney+Hotstar and JioCinema, displays views and not concurrent viewers.

After nearly two months and 74 matches, IPL 2025 welcomed a new name to its winner's circle with RCB breaking their title curse.

The opening weekend of IPL saw a record-breaking viewership with a cumulative watch time of 4,956 crore minutes.

The first three matches recorded 40 percent higher digital viewership than last season, fueled by a 54 percent surge in CTV (Connected TV) consumption. The 18th edition of IPL set a new viewership benchmark with 137 crore views, a peak concurrency of 3.4 crore, and a staggering 2,186 crore minutes of watch time from just the first three matches.

On television, the opening weekend of TATA IPL 2025 set new records, drawing over 25.3 crore viewers and clocking an unprecedented 2,770 crore minutes of watch time — a 22 percent surge from last year, as per BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) data.

The India-Pakistan faceoff during the ICC Championship also grabbed many eyeballs online, with digital views touching 60 crore.

The Champions Trophy finale, when India beat New Zealand in Dubai to win their first 50-over ICC title in 12 years, set a new record on the streaming platform and shattered global records with over 6.1 crore concurrent viewers. This marked the highest number of people watching a live event simultaneously.