IPL 4 pales in comparison to last year

There are fewer eyeballs glued to the television sets for IPL games this year. According to the Television Viewership Rating (TVR), 3.9% is the highest TVR of this season and only two games reached this level.

There are fewer eyeballs glued to the television sets for IPL games this year. According to the Television Viewership Rating (TVR), 3.9% is the highest TVR of this season and only two games reached this level.

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Compared to this, the IPL 3 in 2010 had five matches at or above 4% TVR.

While 22 matches got TVRs between 3% and 4% this season, IPL 3 had 24 games within this range. TVR is the percentage of the total TV viewership that is watching a show during a specific time band.

“The match viewing pattern so far (till May 17) on IPL 4 indicates that weekend matches or second matches in the day, played late in the evenings, saw higher viewerships. Beyond that, there are no particular viewing patterns,” said Jniti Shah, vice president, aMap, a television viewership measurement agency.

The match between Delhi Daredevils and King XI Punjab on April 23 and the other between Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 11, both got 3.9%.

When compared to viewership interest in the World Cup 2011, IPL 4 stands no comparison. The World Cup games, even before the quarterfinal matches, had hit 6.44%, 6.53%.

The India-Pakistan semifinal game had touched 11.74%. Clearly, the IPL this season is struggling to get viewers.