After making IPL viewing subscription-free, Jio Cinema pulled in a record 1.47 billion digital views in the opening week of the cricket extravaganza, while TV rights holder Disney Star said it clocked 8.7 billion minutes of viewing for the inaugural match on Friday last.

The broadcasting joint venture of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, Viacom18, said yesterday Jio Cinema also witnessed 50 million mobile app downloads.

The number of video viewers for the IPL weekend eclipsed what was recorded across the entire last season of IPL on digital, said Viacom18, which is part of Network18, the media unit owned by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance, Reuters reported yesterday.

Viacom18 won digital streaming rights from 2023 to 2027 for Rs. 237.58 billion ($2.89 billion), which Disney previously held.

On the other hand, Disney-owned Star India, which is the official TV broadcaster of the IPL, the world’s richest cricket league, said it saw a total of 8.7 billion minutes of consumption on television for the opening match on Friday between defending champions Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings.

A peak attendance of 16 million viewers was recorded on Jio Cinema during the match, Viacom18 said.

The landscape for content consumption has increasingly moved “to digital and Jio Cinema performance this week is the biggest evidence of it”, Viacom18 Sports Chief Executive Officer Anil Jayaraj said in a statement.

Disney Star said in a separate statement that it was witnessing “continuing dominance” of linear television as the preferred platform for uninterrupted viewing of live cricket.

The comments indicate heated rivalry between Reliance and Disney, which are aiming for a major slice of advertisement revenue at a time when channels are seeing increased spending to push viewership, with advertisers cutting back on spending due to an inflationary environment.