Indian pay-television broadcaster Star Sports has reported a record-breaking audience of 2.8 million for Wednesday’s online streaming of the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket play-off matches between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, and Kings XI Punjab versus Kolkata Knight Riders.
Star Sports said the figures for its starsports.com platform mark the largest traffic for a sporting event outside of American football’s NFL Super Bowl, eclipsing the 2.1 million unique video users achieved by US network NBC on February 21 for the men’s semi-final ice hockey clash between USA and Canada at the Sochi 2014 winter Olympic Games.
The IPL’s previous highest online figure came in April 2013, when West Indies batsman Chris Gayle scored 175 not out for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors before an audience of 1.5 million.
Sanjay Gupta, chief operating officer of Star India, said: “The Indian consumer is ready for a big shift in video consumption. Starsports.com has shown the power of what can be done if we are thoughtful about creating a world class experience for the Indian consumer. Sports is just the beginning, expect more from us.”
The biggest record for a single day worldwide is still believed to be the 2014 Super Bowl on Star Sports’ sister service, Fox Sports’ foxsports.com, which attracted 5.5 million unique visitors.