In the first instance for Indian live sport, JioHotstar has joined hands with global leader in audience measurement Nielsen to launch third-party ad measurement for digital ads during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The alliance is aimed at providing greater transparency and accountability of digital ad performance, a perennial request from advertisers.

The decision comes at a time when digital advertising in India is expected to reach close to ₹1 lakh crore. IPL, the nation's most valued media asset, generates more than ₹4,000 crore of ad revenue every year on TV and digital, with digital ad expenses quickly narrowing the gap with TV. JioHotstar, which has the rights for the IPL's digital, is owned by JioStar, a Reliance, Disney, and Bodhi Tree joint venture.

While TV broadcasting boasts third-party measurement independent of the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), digital platforms have heavily depended on self-reported metrics. Nielsen, measuring ad effectiveness on top global sporting events such as the Super Bowl, seeks to close this gap by offering a strong, census-based ad measurement system.

Ishan Chatterjee, JioStar's Chief Business Officer, Sports Revenue, SMB & Creator, stated that Nielsen will create a separate data pipeline with JioHotstar to process first-party data and deliver campaign-level measurement. This will encompass impressions, click-throughs, and general ad performance metrics across execution. The program will extend subsequently to JioHotstar entertainment content.

The partnership will bring in Nielsen ONE, an ad performance dashboard in real-time for advertisers. The service will be subscription-based with advertisers paying on an impressions basis.
Chatterjee highlighted the increasing significance of online sports viewing and the absence of a robust ad measurement system across digital platforms. "While TV has BARC giving us standardized metrics, digital platforms have never had a common measurement system. This has been a big problem for advertisers, as each impression matters in the digital world. We are determined to address this problem", he said.

Arnaud Frade, President (Commercial), Asia, Nielsen, emphasized growing fragmentation in digital media and the imperative for accurate measurement. "Advertisers require greater transparency and accountability. This partnership allows for proper tracking of every ad impression across devices, enabling brands to get a better understanding of their ad performance", he stated.

The system will offer independent, precise measurement of several different advertising assets, beginning with IPL and eventually broadening to entertainment content. Frade also stated that this endeavor is not only a first for India but also represents a major leap forward for digital ad measurement in the Asian region.

The addition of independent measurement is likely to increase brand trust, reach more types of advertisers, and enable brands to better optimize their ad spend with real-time insights. "For advertisers, having access to validated campaign data in real time and optimizing campaigns based on it is a unique competitive edge in the market, particularly for live sports", Chatterjee said.

JioHotstar seeks to further consolidate its market position by providing advertisers with better insights and higher returns on their ad investments. The platform hopes that third-party verification will be a major point of differentiation in the cutthroat streaming market.

"This is only the start. We are disrupting ad measurement for live sports and will take this initiative to all content genres on JioHotstar", Chatterjee stated.

As digital advertising continues to grow in importance for brands, the JioHotstar-Nielsen partnership is set to redefine how digital ad effectiveness is tracked in India's sports and entertainment ecosystem.