“Is it Cricket Live or Splitsvilla?” netizens left cringing at Star Sports ‘Hot or not’ segment as part of IPL 2023 coverage

Viacom 18 bagging the digital rights for IPL 2023 and four editions beyond has severely affected Star’s viewership numbers.

“Is it Cricket Live or Splitsvilla?” netizens left cringing at Star Sports ‘Hot or not’ segment as part of IPL 2023 coverage

The Indian Premier League (IPL) is the world’s biggest T20 league. Also, IPL is second to only National Football League (NFL) in terms of revenue generated per game through broadcasting. The rights for the new cycle (2023-2027) of the tournament were sold for a whopping INR 48,390.50 Crore. Disney Star acquired the TV broadcasting rights by paying a massive INR 23,575 Crore. 

Meanwhile, Viacom 18 bagged digital rights, meaning Jio Cinema live streams the tournament. And it was a great debut for Jio Cinema as users enjoyed the extra features like commentary in different languages and multiple camera angles. Star Sports, meanwhile, saw a drop in their viewership. They even tried to introduce interesting segments to lure the audience into watching the tournament on TV. 

YouTube video

On the same line, Star Sports have introduced a ‘Hot or not’ segment as a part of their pre-match show wherein female anchors are asked to rate cricketers based on their physique. The first-ever episode aired on Thursday and netizens were left cringing at this weird segment from Star. Most of the fans criticized the broadcasters for objectifying the cricketers. 

Check out the reactions here:

https://twitter.com/gurkiratsgill/status/1659184370186600453?s=20

Star sinking day by day!

star sports decline

Viacom 18 bagging the digital rights for IPL 2023 and four editions beyond has severely affected Star’s viewership numbers. For example, the season opener of IPL 2023 between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings recorded the second-lowest number in terms of TV viewership in the past six seasons even though digital viewership registered record-breaking opening day numbers, said a report.

According to information received here, Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the tournament, recorded a TVR of 7.29 for the opening fixture, a sharp drop from the 2021 edition (8.25) and 2020 (10.36).

In case you missed!