With 40.9 million fans, IPL team Chennai Super Kings (CSK) emerged as the biggest biggest sports franchise in India, according to a survey conducted by media consulting firm Ormax Media. As per the data released from the survey, CSK's loyal fan base of 22.5 Million people is almost the same as the entire fan base of the sport of Football in India. The report defines a loyal fan as someone feels emotionally connected with team and its results, and engages in online or offline conversations around the team and its players.
Among all sports in India, cricket leads with 124.2 million fans. Kabaddi, Wrestling (including WWE) and Football are in a close contest for the second position, with 23-28 Million fans each. The report profiles these fans by gender, age, NCCS, pop strata and states.
The report also looks at the various Football leagues and their fan following. Lionel Messi’s erstwhile team Barcelona FC tops the list with 3.9 Million fans. Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi feature in the list of the 10 most popular sportspersons in India. The list includes seven cricketers and Badminton star PV Sindhu, besides the two Football superstars.
In the section on viewing behaviour, the report looks at the TV vs. Digital consumption of sports. While 44% Indian sports fans watch live sports only on TV, a sizeable 36% are using both traditional and digital media to watch live sports, while the remaining 20% are watching exclusively on Digital. The report also covers the preferred commentary languages in India, reported by various geographies and demographics.
Shailesh Kapoor, Founder & CEO, Ormax Media, said: “Viewership numbers, especially from television, are not an accurate representation of the fanbase of any sport, as India is predominantly a single-TV nation where a lot of sports viewing is passive in nature. Through this report, we aim to fill in the need gap for reliable data on the size and the profile of the ‘real’ sports fans, who are actively watching and engaged with the sport. The report can provide useful material to sports leagues, teams and broadcasters for their brand and communication strategy initiatives”.
{{/usCountry}}Shailesh Kapoor, Founder & CEO, Ormax Media, said: “Viewership numbers, especially from television, are not an accurate representation of the fanbase of any sport, as India is predominantly a single-TV nation where a lot of sports viewing is passive in nature. Through this report, we aim to fill in the need gap for reliable data on the size and the profile of the ‘real’ sports fans, who are actively watching and engaged with the sport. The report can provide useful material to sports leagues, teams and broadcasters for their brand and communication strategy initiatives”.
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