JioCinema garners over 100 million viewers from Bigg Boss OTT

An executive said viewers from tier-2 towns outnumbered those from tier-1 towns. Connected TV (CTV) accounted for 25–30% of the audience, he added.

Viacom18-owned streaming platform JioCinema has attracted over 100 million viewers from the second season of Bigg Boss OTT as the property was put outside the paywall this year, a senior company executive said.

“The removal of the paywall to enable consumers across the country to access Bigg Boss OTT, as well as the diverse background of the contestants, have helped us draw over 100 million viewers,” the executive said.

Bigg Boss OTT 2021 was streamed on Voot Select, which was a subscription-led platform. Voot, Voot Select, and Voot Kids have since combined with JioCinema.

The executive said viewers from tier-2 towns outnumbered those from tier-1 towns. Connected TV (CTV) accounted for 25–30% of the audience, he added.

Bigg Boss OTT is a spin-off of popular reality television series Bigg Boss.

It is the second big-ticket property on JioCinema after the Indian Premier League (IPL). Free streaming of IPL 2023 had helped the platform attract almost 450 million viewers.

According to Sensor Tower data, JioCinema was the most downloaded free app on the Google Play Store as of August 15. The streaming app's install range was between 100 million and 500 million.

The Viacom18 executive cited above also said the finale episode of Bigg Boss OTT attracted 23 million viewers, with a peak concurrency of 7.2 million. The watch time for the property was 30 billion minutes.

With close to seven sponsors for the show, the platform is believed to have raked in close to Rs 30 crore in advertising revenue, according to advertising industry insiders.

Bigg Boss OTT 2, originally supposed to be a six-week show, was extended by another two weeks due to consumer response. Hosted by Bollywood star Salman Khan, the show was held from June 17 to August 14.

“Bigg Boss OTT helped JioCinema retain audiences who had come on the platform due to the IPL. Besides that, it also attracted new users,” the Viacom18 executive said.

Also, 55 million users engaged with the show’s interactive features through live chats and voting. The platform offered multi-camera feeds, 360-degree cameras, and the option to watch the content in 4K.

Bigg Boss OTT is exclusively streamed digitally, whereas Bigg Boss, which is in its 17th year, is shown on TV and also streamed digitally. This year’s TV version of the property is slated to launch in October.

-          economictimes