Disney’s Hotstar will provide free streaming of cricket tournaments to cellular customers in India, following Reliance’s JioCinema comparable strategy that helped it appeal to thousands and thousands of viewers.

On Friday, Disney+ Hotstar introduced it might raise the paywall on the Asia Cup and ICC Males’s Cricket World Cup reside streams to let all cellular viewers watch these two tournaments without spending a dime within the cricket-loving nation.

The transfer comes simply days after JioCinema broke Hotstar’s long-standing report of concurrent views. JioCinema reached greater than 32 million simultaneous viewers for the finale of the sixteenth version of the Indian Cricket League (IPL) cricket match final week, way more than Hotstar’s earlier report of 25 million concurrent views. Reliance’s platform supplied free cricket streaming to its customers, contributing to the brand new report.

“Making the Asia Cup and ICC Males’s Cricket World Cup out there to a wider viewers, we consider, will assist us develop the general eco-system,” stated Sajith Sivanandan, Head of Disney+ Hotstar, in a ready assertion.

Disney+ Hotstar misplaced its streaming rights for IPL matches to JioCinema final yr for 5 years till 2027. Because of the shift, the latter began streaming the cricket match without spending a dime this yr.

JioCinema’s profitable of IPL’s rights has adversely impacted Hotstar — India is its largest market with about 53 million subscribers. The platform has misplaced 8.4 million subscribers since October final yr, with a major drop of 4.6 million subscribers alone within the quarter that led to March, in keeping with Disney’s latest earnings. Its common income per subscriber additionally declined to 59 cents from 74 cents within the March quarter.

Viacom18, which owns JioCinema and counts James Murdoch’s Bodhi Tree amongst its key traders, just lately introduced partnerships with worldwide leisure giants Warner Bros. and NBCUniversal to broaden the catalog out there on JioCinema’s streaming platform. JioCinema additionally just lately launched a premium plan to serve worldwide content material at round $12 (999 Indian rupees) per yr. The platform has, nonetheless, not but introduced its plans to supply cricket streaming beneath its paid tier.

That stated, Hotstar’s play with free cellular cricket streaming may assist the platform seize some consideration from JioCinema and develop its viewers in addition to generate some income from native advertisements.