England v India sets test match cricket streaming record with 81.9m viewers on JioHotstar

England’s victory over India in the first match of a five-test series between the pair was watched by more than 89.1 million people on JioHotstar, the most ever recorded by the Indian streaming service for test cricket.

Viewers also accumulated more than 13.7 billion minutes of total watch time during the game, with coverage available in five languages – English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada.

The high-profile nature of the fixture and the competitive balance of the two teams have been attributed as contributing factors to the high rating, as has the fact that the series is viewed by many in India as the start of a new era, following the retirement of Rohit Sharma as captain and the appointment of Shubman Gill as his successor.

JioHotstar acquired the streaming rights to this series through a sublicensing deal with Sony, which is the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) media partner in the Indian subcontinent. Sony has retained the linear television rights, however.

JioHotstar also streams the Indian Premier League (IPL), International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments and all India home games. Its coverage of India’s victory in the men’s ICC Champions Trophy against New Zealand peaked at 61 million viewers in March, while it attracted a record 169 million viewers for the 2025 IPL final.

Other test matches have also proved popular. The World Test Championship (WTC) final between Australia and South Africa attracted 41.4 million viewers and amassed 2.95 billion viewing minutes, the most ever for a non-India test match.

Credit: https://www.sportspro.com/news/jiohotstar-england-india-test-cricket-streaming-ratings-july-2025/