IPL 2020 off to great start as viewership increases by 15 per cent

IPL 2020: The spike may be a result of viewers starved of Indian cricket action due to pandemic enforced lockdown, as well as the half hour early start to evening matches. A total of 269 million viewers watched IPL in its opening week, 11 million more per match compared to 2019, despite one fewer match (7) played this time.

Updated on: Oct 2, 2020, 15:05:07 IST

Mumbai, Hindustan Times | By Rasesh Mandani

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IPL viewership in its first week saw a 15 percent growth from last year, with total viewing minutes of 60.6 billion, as per a first-week-viewership report released by tv measurement body BARC. There was a 21 percent growth in average impressions per match (39 million) compared to last year.

General view of a stadium during match 1 of season 13 of the Dream 11 Indian Premier League (IPL) between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Superkings held at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on the 19th September 2020. Photo by: Pankaj Nangia / Sportzpics for BCCI

The spike may be a result of viewers starved of Indian cricket action due to pandemic enforced lockdown, as well as the half hour early start to evening matches. A total of 269 million viewers watched IPL in its opening week, 11 million more per match compared to 2019, despite one fewer match (7) played this time.

The IPL opener between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on September 19 was watched by 158 million viewers (21% higher than 2019). The total viewing minutes went up to 11.2 billion, which was 65 percent more than the CSK-RCB season opener last year and not too far off from the counter for the 2019 final (12.1 billion).

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The digital viewership response for Hotstar, which follows a subscription model, wasn’t immediately available, but BCCI secretary Jay Shah had earlier declared that a total of 200 million viewers (tv + digital) saw the MI-CSK clash.

Significantly, Star, the broadcasters who pay R3300 crores for each IPL edition, will be happy the advertising volumes have seen a 15% growth.

Viewing minutes (billion)

IPL 2020 - 60.6

IPL 2019 - 52.8

IPL 2018 - 42.7

Average impressions (millions) per match

IPL 2020 - 39

IPL 2019 - 32.2

IPL 2018 - 25.8

Cumulative reach (millions)

IPL 2020 – 269

IPL 2019 – 268

IPL 2018 – 246

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rasesh Mandani
Rasesh Mandani loves a straight drive. He has been covering cricket, the governance and business side of sport for close to two decades. He writes and video blogs for HT.

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