IPL 2018: The unsold inventory of Star Sports

The eleventh edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is currently underway and eight teams are fighting it out to claim the championship. The tournament has already been a witness to some riveting encounters in its opening week. Meanwhile, the broadcasters are also having a gala time having earned revenues owing to escalating viewership on Star Sports and Hotstar.

Despite the dream run, Star still has a couple of inventories- Super Fours and Fall of Wickets, which haven’t found buyers. Recently, a leading media buyer iterated Star Sports’ approach for the unsold properties in a recent chat with Inside Sport. “In spite of record viewership numbers for any televised or streamed event in India, Star is not asking for a premium on its unsold inventory,” the buyer said.

Star Sports have a fair distance to travel

The viewership of the match between the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) was a massive boost for Hotstar. However, the media buyer feels that Star is still lagging way behind and has some distance to travel in terms of revenue before they can get to safer shores.

“The global record of 5.5 million concurrent viewership during the live streaming of the Chennai Super Kings-Kolkata Knight Riders match should give Hotstar ad sales a much-needed boost. IPL ad sales on television and OTT platform have no doubt surpassed the previous years’ numbers, but the gross revenues for Star are still way-off target” the buyer added.

Meanwhile, the opening game of the tournament between CSK and the Mumbai Indians has generated a humungous 6,355,000 impressions and a rating percentage of 7.21. The games are currently being broadcasted in six languages on ten network channels. Star has a daunting target of 700 million viewership, however, they well on their way to achieve the same.

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