JioCinema, the official streaming partner of the ongoing India-Australia T20I series, has switched to displaying cumulative views instead of the earlier concurrent numbers.
The first match of the current tournament, played on November 23, saw cumulative views of 21.3 crore. For the November 26th game, the number stood at over 22 crore.
Prior to this series, the streaming platform had been displaying concurrent views numbers. For instance, the IPL 2023 final between CSK and Gujarat Titans witnessed a concurrent views of 3.2 crore.
To put it in layman's terms, concurrent views refer to the maximum number of viewers tuned in at the moment, whereas cumulative refers to the total number of views.
So, why did Jio Cinema make the switch and will it impact the advertisers?
Game of Numbers
According to industry sources, the platform's decision to display the cumulative figure may have been taken to provide viewers and advertisers with a more credible measurement of viewer engagement. There is also the opinion that the shift is to stay ahead of the competition.
A senior industry leader told exchange4media that the idea behind the shift was to put out a big number of views. “At the end of the day, the metrics show how much traffic you have on a particular game and when you don’t have many viewers, the best thing to do is to put out the total number of views.”
He further said the cumulative metric is not new to the industry. For instance, a leading video streaming platform has been already displaying the total number of views for its content.
On the condition of anonymity, another industry leader shared that instead of how many people watched the match at a given point in time, this metric addresses the total viewing consumption. “This move can provide a scientifically reliable measure of audience engagement. Showing cumulative reach rather than concurrent views could avoid possible errors of fluctuating concurrent numbers,” he added.
exchange4media reached out to JioCinema but is yet to receive an official response.
Impact on Advertising?
According to Preetham Venkky, Chief Digital Officer, DDB Mudra, in a way, brands are already paying for cumulative views rather than the concurrent audience because they go by impressions.
“I believe it merely confuses viewers. However, it is unlikely to have a significant impact on advertisers in terms of revenue. When brands buy inventory, they are going by past data and they only pay for impressions, which anyway tends to be cumulative.”
Stating a similar viewpoint, another senior executive, on the condition of anonymity, shared that from the advertiser perspective, concurrent viewers is a more exact metric. “It's a more helpful metric to understand the reach of ads. Views don’t tell you what your ad reach is because it is just a cumulative number.”
“Concurrency gives advertisers an exact idea of how many people saw their ad, total number of views does not. Hence, concurrency is a more advertiser-friendly metric compared to views.”
Asked if this switch would affect advertising during the next IPL, scheduled for 2024, a senior executive of a digital agency said: “Not really.” Advertisers are paying for impressions and not for unique impressions. They are paying for other things as well - reach and frequency, he explained.
“It doesn't affect to a large extent, provided how the marketers look at it. There needs to be transparency - saying this is cumulative views, in which case it will become the total impression and not reach. When you look at concurrent views, you're only looking at reach, you're not looking at impressions.”
Another source said the impact on advertising is yet to be seen. “It has just been introduced. There has to be some thought process behind changing the metrics and that will be clear in the coming days."
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