IPL 2013: Mobile viewers consume over 9 lakh hours of video so far

The glitz, glamour and excitement of Indian Premier League has gripped the mobile audiences, with viewers consuming more than 9 lakh hours of video feed averaging at over 42,000 hours daily.

According to statistics by mobile TV service nexGTv, the most sought video on demand (VoD) content are the highlights of matches and interesting moments of the T20 cricketing extravaganza, since it began on April 3.

"As of April 24, the total IPL video consumed on nexGTv stood at 9 lakh hours, averaging at 42,857 hours per day," Value added services provider DigiVive Director GD Singh told PTI.

DigiVive owns nexGTv, which provides access to live TV channels and video on demand on mobile handsets.

nexGTv has the mobile streaming rights of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2013, which commenced on April 3 and will go on till May 26 with a total of 76 matches to be played.

"Mobile entertainment is the future. With more and more people spending time outside their homes and the growth of affordable smartphones, the 5 and 7 inch screen is going to be the next big thing," Singh added.

Considering that in the short and medium term mobile networks will become stronger with technological input, mobile entertainment will also grow, he said.

"The viewership on nexGTv has seen a sharp upward turn from day-one of Pepsi IPL and so far has received more than 15 million hits averaging at 7,47,959 hits per day. In less than 20 days since the start of Pepsi IPL, over 1.5 million users have been added," he noted.

The mobile TV application witnessed the highest downloads on April 4th, the second day of IPL, at 1,14,885. The maximum download from Android Google Play stood at 88,000.

"nexGTv has had good experience with cricket and IPL T20 is our third event after the World Cup and the Champions League," Singh said, adding, the mobile app has seen 11.5-11.6 million downloads since it started.

"The company has a target to reach 25 million downloads by 2014," Singh said.