JioCinema, the official Indian broadcaster for the Paris Olympics 2024, is making the Games widely accessible with extensive free live coverage.
This approach mirrors the OTT platform’s successful strategy during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, ensuring a broader audience can enjoy the world’s foremost sports competition without a paywall.
The platform will be offering 23 feeds in total. This includes five curated feeds alongside 18 direct live feeds from the world’s largest sporting event.
Two dedicated feeds for Indian athletes: These feeds will showcase the journeys of Indian competitors and will be offered in Tamil and Telugu for wider accessibility.
Global Sports feed: This feed will focus on events featuring sports other than cricket, where there’s significant Indian interest (e.g., football).
Women in Sports feed: This feed will highlight Indian female athletes, available in English and Hindi to promote gender equality in sports viewership.
Artistic Sports feed (English only): This feed will cater to viewers interested in the artistic aspects of the Olympics, such as gymnastics and figure skating.
For in-depth viewing, 18 additional live feeds will showcase all 45 Olympic sports simultaneously. The over-the-top (OTT) platform will utilize dynamic icons reflecting live events, creating an intuitive and sport-specific interface.
Speaking at ‘Hall of Flame – The Olympics Masterclass’ during Goafest 2024, Chandan Roy, AVP – Revenue Management, Viacom18 Media, said its ambition is to make this the most watched Olympics yet.
“We transformed how people access major tournaments like the Olympics, IPL, and FIFA, which were traditionally behind subscription paywalls. Now, we make these events available to every viewer, contributing to our impressive 275 million average monthly active users, even during the non-IPL period.
“This is more of an experiment because there are certain sports that fall into a very different category, like figure skating and break dance.
“The Olympics need significant visibility, so we leveraged the IPL to promote the Olympics, generating close to a billion impressions. In the second phase, we’re building Athlete Specific Affinity and Sports Specific Affinity. For example, there is a specific promo for Neeraj Chopra. Similarly, there will be promos for other sports, highlighting our athletes and their medal prospects.
“As we approach the final phase of the campaign, we’ll launch a mass media effort to rally people to watch and support the Olympics as much as possible. We’ve consistently revolutionised how sports and individual content are consumed digitally, and this initiative is part of that ongoing transformation.”
The digital platform will offer advertisers unique formats to connect with Olympic viewers. Options include split-screen ads and engaging branded overlays. Additionally, brands can partner with specific moments through curated segments like “Goals Galore,” “Smashing Aces,” “Super Start,” “Super Saves,” and “Winning Moment.”
The JioCinema app will also feature a dedicated Olympics tab, providing vital information like the event schedule, medal tallies, and details about India’s participation.
Recognizing that many Indian sports fans primarily follow cricket, JioCinema has created the show “Get Set Gold.” Hosted by cricketer Dinesh Karthik, the show features him interacting with India’s top Olympic medal hopefuls through fun challenges. This innovative approach aims to bridge the gap between cricket enthusiasts and other Olympic sports, fostering broader support for Indian athletes.
The international multi-sport event will be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024.