Speaking at APOS 2026, Asia’s leading entertainment and technology summit, Ishan Chatterjee, CEO – Sports, JioStar, outlined how India has emerged as one of the world’s most dynamic live sports markets, driven by scale, personalisation and evolving fan experiences.

Highlighting the reach of sports content in India, Chatterjee said JioStar is now regularly delivering more than one billion viewers during every IPL season, with IPL 2026 crossing 1.2 billion viewers. He also pointed to JioHotstar’s global digital concurrency record of 72.5 million viewers during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 Final.

According to Chatterjee, the significance of these numbers extends beyond scale itself. He noted that in a world where content supply across traditional and social media is virtually infinite, live sports remains one of the few content categories capable of bringing together hundreds of millions of viewers simultaneously.

He explained that serving a billion-plus viewers requires addressing vastly different consumer needs. Audiences range from viewers watching on connected televisions in metropolitan cities to mobile-first users in rural India, making personalisation a critical component of the platform’s strategy.

Discussing language preferences, Chatterjee revealed that IPL viewers can currently access the tournament in more than 12 languages. He noted that English now accounts for less than 10 percent of total IPL watch time on the platform, while 90 percent comes from Indian-language consumption. Excluding Hindi, regional language viewership is growing at twice the pace of the broader market, underscoring the importance of localisation at scale.

While cricket remains central to JioStar’s sports strategy, Chatterjee highlighted the growing popularity of other sports properties on the platform. He said the company now offers more than 350 days of live sports annually across multiple disciplines.

Among international properties, the Premier League attracted more than 100 million viewers in India during the most recent season. Wimbledon recorded 80 percent growth in digital reach, while the US Open delivered 75 percent growth in overall reach compared to previous editions.

Chatterjee also highlighted the success of Kabaddi, which has been developed by the company over the past decade. He noted that the most recent season attracted more than 300 million viewers, demonstrating the potential for non-cricket sports to build significant fan bases when supported by strong distribution and promotion.

Addressing the growing convergence of content and commerce, Chatterjee discussed JioStar’s integration with Swiggy during live sporting events. He explained that the partnership enables viewers to order food, complete transactions and track deliveries without leaving the live match stream, creating a seamless user experience while opening new monetisation opportunities for the platform.

On artificial intelligence, Chatterjee detailed JioStar’s partnership with OpenAI, which aims to enhance both content discovery and fan engagement. Beyond voice-based content search, the integration allows viewers to ask contextual questions during live sporting events and receive real-time information, statistics and insights.

He suggested that AI-powered experiences are still in their early stages and could eventually evolve into more conversational, agent-driven interactions that make information retrieval increasingly seamless during content consumption.

Concluding his remarks, Chatterjee said that while large-scale brand advertising remains a key strength of the platform, future growth will increasingly depend on creating deeper engagement opportunities and delivering more personalised experiences for individual viewers.

As consumer attention becomes more fragmented, he emphasised that customised and interactive experiences will play an increasingly important role in shaping the future of sports consumption and monetisation.