IPL playoffs attracted 2.8 million online viewers: Starsports.com

Mumbai, May 30: Starsports.com, the digital sports channel owned by Star India Pvt. Ltd, said its coverage of the Indian Premier League (IPL) playoff matches Wednesday attracted 2.8 million online viewers, the highest for a sporting event outside of the US Super Bowl.

The coverage of two big playoff matches—Kings XI Punjab versus Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings versus Mumbai Indians—was streamed on starsports.com.

The coverage of the Sochi Winter Olympics on nbcolympics.com earlier this year claimed the record for the most watched on the internet, with 2.1 million unique users on 21 February, the day US and Canada squared off in a men’s ice-hockey match, Starsports.com said in a statement.

Starsports.com said it has attracted more than 55 million visits in the past six weeks, since start of the IPL, with viewers having watched 450 million minutes of video.

Starsports.com is airing the matches live and with a five-minute delay (free). The channel did not disclose details of subscription revenue.

The website is airing the matches through a deal with Times Internet, which owns the digital broadcast rights for the popular cricket tournament. Times Internet won the internet and mobile broadcast rights for the IPL for Rs261.6 crore in 2011, and teamed up with Star India in January 2014 to share the rights with Starsports.com, the broadcaster’s online brand.