JioStar, India’s largest media and entertainment company, has unveiled another historic season for the Indian Premier League (IPL), with the recently concluded season becoming the most viewed in the league’s history.
JioStar not only delivered record-breaking growth across television and digital platforms, but it also maintained the league’s place as India’s largest athletic and entertainment spectacular.
IPL 2026 reach surpassed 1.2 billion, representing a 7% increase year on year. The season, which included new heroes, never-before-seen performances, and gripping subplots, had fans riveted to their screens as watch time reached 870 billion minutes. The TATA IPL 2026 Final, which saw Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) win the title for the second year in a row, had double the viewership of any previous TATA IPL event, reaching over 400 million across screens.
The season saw great growth on digital screens. Connected TV maintained its rapid rise, increasing by 22%, highlighting the rapid convergence of television-scale reach with digital precision for marketers. Digital video views surpassed 25 billion, representing an 8% year-on-year growth. Two audience demographics, namely affluent consumers and young viewers, drove digital growth, underlining the TATA IPL’s power to attract premium consumers and future-facing audiences on an unprecedented scale. Regional language watch-time share increased by 33% on digital.
Ishan Chatterjee, CEO, JioStar, Sports, said, “TATA IPL 2026 was a season where we set out on our journey of what a truly integrated sports platform should look like. Our endeavour was to make every screen, every interaction, and every moment meaningful, so that fans are not only watching sports on our platform but also interacting with it in ways that are deeply contextual and personal. The season-ending data is a testament to the efforts we made across platforms, with CTV’s communal experience and regional-language presentation becoming unprecedented growth drivers. The final outcome was yet another TATA IPL edition that opened up new possibilities for sponsors, advertisers, distribution partners, and, more importantly, the fans; none of this would have been possible without their faith and the BCCI’s unwavering partnership.”
The 19th IPL was presented by JioStar in a way that combined innovation with watching experiences that catered to fans’ changing demands and tastes. Fans could personalise and improve their viewing experience with a wide range of options at the touch of a screen, from 12 languages, a multi-cam experience, and 30 feeds to the recently introduced “Champions Wali Commentary,” which brought together legends, former champions, and leading voices of the game.
This season also allowed each spectator to enjoy live sports in a more personalised and intuitive manner. It also allowed marketers to contextualise their interactions with viewers. JioStar’s presentation of TATA IPL 2026 was strengthened by 125 additional advertisements compared to the previous season, with 22 sponsors partnering with JioHotstar and 16 joining Star Sports Network.
