ISLAMABAD: Cricket fever is here again and apart from the actual event where 12 teams are playing against each other on Australian soil, another competition is set to take place in a different arena: digital platforms and companies trying to acquire new customers by offering live streams.

Amid the growing shift from the traditional electronic media to online streaming, five different over-the-top (OTT) services are airing the Twenty20 World Cup matches this year, including PTV Sports, Daraz, Tamasha, ARY Zap and Tapmad.

In contrast, only two channels — the state-run PTV Sports and the ARY Group’s A-Sports, a joint venture with Ten Sports — are broadcasting the event.

PTV Sports, the first one to live-stream cricket matches, has been held back by limited web hosting capacity.

In October last year, Daraz acquired the rights from PTV to live-stream the 2021 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup on its app.

Muhammad Ammar Hassan, the chief marketing officer at Daraz Pakistan, told Dawn that the app’s viewership quickly skyrocketed to levels higher than sports channels.

During the India-Pakistan match on Oct 24, 2021, Daraz’s viewership reached 1.58 million compared to 0.68m on A-Sports and 1.03m on Ten Sports. Daraz hit the 3.78m figure during the Pakistan-Australia semi-final match.

Live-streaming the event also catapulted the number of Daraz monthly app users in Pakistan from six million in October last year to 15m the next month. “This shows the changing trends in the country,” Mr Hassan said.

One major reason for the rapid shift from traditional TV to mobile screens is that many people do not want to pay separately for cable or satellite services.

Encouraged by the viewership figures, the Tamasha app owned by Jazz, largely sports digital channel Tapmad, and ARY Zap of the ARY Group have also obtained digital rights from Daraz to air this year’s World Cup matches.

Amid stiff competition, the platforms are offering exciting options to retain and attract viewers.

Aamer Ejaz, the chief digital officer at Jazz, said the Tamasha app was for consumers of all telecom networks and it was the only digital platform in Pakistan where users can enjoy live stream without ads.

Meanwhile, a senior executive of a digital marketing company said the OTT platforms were live-streaming cricket not because of advertising revenues but to retain and attract subscribers, who might shift to other platforms offering better options.

Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2022