10th season of the IPL sees meteoric rise in viewership

The 10th edition of IPL, the crème de la crème of Indian cricket, has been phenomenal in terms of the viewership. This season has garnered a mammoth 1.25 billion eyeballs for the 59 matches played from April 5 to May 21 which is a 22.5% jump from the previous year. If the data released by BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council) is to be believed, it collected impressions 1.02 billion viewership in 2016 for 60 matches.

Sony, the channel mogul, has five channels to broadcast the glitzy T20 league- Sony Max, Sony Six, Sony Six HD, Sony ESPN and Sony ESPN HD. The channel had a brilliant outing this year with the viewership. Sony Max has been the official broadcaster of the league and to spike up the viewership, Sony has put the channel in the top slot.

Drop in final viewership

Though this year’s final between Mumbai Indians and Rising Pune Supergiant recorded 12% lower viewership compared to last year between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore which is a sort of lone dampener to the mega viewership count. It went down to 39.4 million from 44.68 million.

Chairman and Chief Executive of Dentsu Aegis Network South-Asia, Mr Ashish Bhasin had a glint in his eye when he said that the IPL as a brand has had a brilliant journey so far. Though it had been in the thick of controversies, it does lose its sheen as a brand.

“In a cricket crazy country IPL has proved to be a very strong property. The property withstood the controversies around BCCI and has struck the heart of the viewers,” he mentioned.

The record viewership can be attributed to the recent tweakings by BARC in the measurement spectrum. It had updated and aligned its mechanisms in line with the current population, TV ownership and connections. The change fructified when TV households rose from 154 million in 2013 to 183 in 2017.

Goa and Maharashtra accounted for the maximum viewership followed by Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Rural areas did not lag either. It brought 568 million impressions which is 45% of the total viewership.

“This was one of the best seasons that we have had, both in terms of viewership and reach. IPL crossed the 400 million mark and reached 411 million viewers this season. The property has reached a mature stage. It has become a part of the sporting calendar,” said Rohit Gupta, president, network sales, Sony Pictures Networks India.

However this year, the television broadcast rights of IPL held by Sony Pictures Networks Pvt Ltd, expired. Also, the internet and mobile rights held by Novi Digital Entertainment Pvt Ltd expired in 2017. Sony had a glorious decade with IPL. We will have to wait till the next auction of television and digital rights to see who wins them for the next season and henceforth.