India Vs England 5th Test's Dramatic Final Day Creates Digital Viewership History

The final day of the fifth Test between India and England captivated audiences on the digital screens like never before as the official digital broadcaster of the series JioStar revealed on Tuesday that the dramatic ending established a new record for peak concurrency for a red-ball match. The fifth day of the fifth Test at the Oval achieved a peak concurrency of 13 million on JioHotstar, a number never touched before in the history of the traditional format.

Play went on for around an hour on the fifth day as India eked out an improbable six-run victory which is now a record for the narrowest Test win in the history of Indian cricket.

While the ending was one of the best of all time, the overall series too was filled with drama with all five Test matches going to the fifth and final day. Another record was thus created as over 170 million logged in to JioHotstar to watch the Test series, making this the highest-ever reach for a Test series on digital. A mammoth 65 billion minutes of watch time were clocked on JioHotstar for the memorable series.

“The extraordinary response to India’s tour of England reinforced Test cricket’s ability to forge compelling narratives in almost every session of every match. Reaching over 170 million viewers and setting new concurrency records is a testament not just to the thrilling cricket, but also to our commitment to delivering an immersive storytelling and viewing experience,” said Siddharth Sharma, Head of Content, Sports, JioStar.

The see-saw series witnessed both teams giving their best to churn out victories. India lost the first Test as England scaled a record chase at Headingley. Shubman Gill led with the bat as his record breaking performance in the second Test helped India crush England. The hosts then bounced back to win a thriller at the Lord's as Ben Stokes overshadowed Ravindra Jadeja in a battle of two of the best all-rounders of this generation. India batted out five sessions in their second innings of the fourth Test to pull of a sensational draw. The final match then saw Mohammed Siraj pick up a fifer to help India draw the series 2-2.