IPL 2020 responsible for increasing OTT consumption by 13% in India: Study

The upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) is a couple of months away with various franchises looking to fill the empty slots in the team during  IPL auction on February 18. As the countdown begins for IPL auction and IPL 2021 tournament a popular news website published a report recently which stated that the last year's tournament saw an increase in OTT viewership.

Also Read: Joe Root Nears Sri Lankan Legend's Massive World Record Ahead Of Chennai Test

IPL 2020 increases OTT consumption in India 

According to a report by Insidesport during the IPL months, the OTT video consumption grew 13% (on-year) in 2020. The report states that the consumption increased from 181 billion minutes in January 2020 to 204 billion minutes in January this year, according to data provided by Bengaluru-based market research firm RedSeer.

Also Read: India Vs England 2021: All 10,000 Tickets Online For Chennai Test Sold Out Within 1 Hour

The report states that subscription video on demand (SVOD) platforms had the highest NPS (net promoter scores), led by Netflix at 59 per cent and Amazon Prime at 53 per cent, followed by Hotstar, Voot, SonyLiv, Zee5 and MX Player. A higher number of mainstream releases of popular Bollywood and south Indian movies on Hotstar and Amazon Prime as well as an increased dubbing of international movies into vernacular languages led to increased movies consumption in the country in 2020. Further, the report mentions that a higher number of releases is leading to strong growth for originals and movies consumption on various OTT platforms.

Also Read: Goa Coach Dodda Ganesh Backs 'gem Of A Cricketer' Wasim Jaffer; 'cricket World Knows You'

IPL 2020 winners Mumbai Indians gear up to defend their IPL crown

Rohit Sharma led Mumbai Indians will be eyeing to defend their title when IPL 2021 gets underway in a couple of months' time. The cash-rich league which was held in UAE due to the COVID-19 pandemic saw the Mumbai franchise go on to win their 5th crown by beating Delhi Capitals in the finals.

Also Read: Virat Kohli Overtakes Sachin Tendulkar, Joe Root For World Record Despite Chennai Loss

Ahead of the IPL auction, the IPL 2020 winners announced a list of all their retentions and released players for the upcoming season. They released seven of their players, including IPL legend and recently-retired Lasith Malinga. Players like Mitch McClenaghan, James Pattinson, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Sherfane Rutherford, Prince Balwant Rai and Digvijay Deshmukh were among others to be released by the defending champions. On the other hand, they retained as many as 18 of their cricketers, including skipper Rohit Sharma and other star-attractions like Kieron Pollard, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah.

Image: Indian Premier League / Twitter