Cricket has biggest sporting audience in India; CSK most-recalled franchise: Report

Cricket is inarguably the most watched and most followed sport in India and a couple of recent reports go on to prove it further. Earlier this week, a report titled ‘Sporting Nation - Building a Legacy’ by GroupM ESP revealed that the Indian sporting landscape received INR 15,000 crore as sponsorship in 2023, out of which cricket obtained INR 13,701 crore, a whopping 87% of the total spend.

When it comes to the size of the sporting audience on TV and OTT, cricket dominates again with 612 million (90%) out of the total base of 678 million as per the ‘Ormax Sports Audience Report 2024'. Football and Kabaddi are a distant second and third, respectively with 305 million and 208 million viewers.

The same report also stated that Chennai Super Kings are the most-recalled franchise in the IPL, with Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bengaluru sharing the second spot. As per the methodology devised by the media consulting firm, sports audience is defined to include individuals who watched sports on TV or OTT for at least 30 minutes in the past one year.

Also Read: RCB renamed as Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of IPL 2024

“With an increase in digital consumption, TV viewership is no longer an accurate way of estimating sports consumption in a large and heterogeneous country like India. This report is a part of our initiative to build industry data using primary audience research across various categories,” said Shailesh Kapoor, founder and chief executive officer of Ormax Media, as quoted by Business Standard.

Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni most popular sportspersons in India

The report also revealed Kohli and Dhoni to be the most popular sportspersons in the country. It is interesting to note that Dhoni still commands a high level of attention despite only being active in the IPL. Moreover, the CSK maestro is not really active on social media.

On the other hand, Kohli continues to be in his prime. The Delhi-born had an excellent ICC World Cup 2023, finishing as the highest scorer of the tournament with 765 runs from 11 matches at an average of 95.62. Meanwhile, Kohli will turn up for RCB in the forthcoming IPL 2024 after taking a break from the game due to personal reasons.

Also Read: It's my dream as well to know what it feels like to win the IPL: Virat Kohli