ISL 2020: Laid emphasis on enhanced viewing experience, says Star India Sports Head

The Indian Super League (ISL) season 7 continues to take the fans by storm and the tournament is setting new records in terms of viewership. Sanjog Gupta, Star India Sports Head, believes that laying emphasis on an enhanced viewing experience for fans has paid off for his entire team.

ISL continued its growth trajectory registering a viewership increase of 16 per cent in the opening week (first 8 matches) as compared to the previous season. The growth is universally seen across markets - HSM 18 per cent, South 14 per cent.

“We are thrilled to deliver a blockbuster opening week of the ISL 2020-21. After a successful IPL 2020, we laid emphasis on an enhanced viewing experience for football by stressing on product innovations, improved story-telling, and fan engagement. We hope to maintain the momentum and build on the gains in viewership in Week 1. ISL 2020-21 has also set the precedence for other sporting events to resume in India by following the highest safety standards,” Sanjog said in an official release.

ISL 2020-21 returned in a new 11 team avatar this season raising the competition a notch higher. The highly anticipated Kolkata Derby between SC East Bengal and ATK Mohun Bagan made its debut this season in the top tier league.

This is the highest viewership recorded for the legendary rivalry match and is 10 times the viewership this fixture garnered in the I-League in January 2020 at an all India level.

Star Sports and FSDL had introduced a series of exciting technological innovations this year to give fans the opportunity to engage with their favourite clubs and players from the comfort of their homes.

The addition of a dedicated LIVE Fan Wall raises the excitement a notch higher to help viewers celebrate important moments with their favourite team and heroes. The two LED screens feature fans from the home team and the away team, thus amplifying the rivalry virtually to enhance the viewing experience.