IPL ratings tumble further this time

The IPL bosses and official broadcasters had asserted that last year's post-World Cup fatigue will not be a factor in this season. However, the early trend should provide a reality check.

The IPL bosses and official broadcasters had asserted that last year's post-World Cup fatigue will not be a factor in this season. However, the early trend should provide a reality check. The total viewership and the TV ratings for the first six games have taken a beating compared to last season.

And for the first time, the cumulative viewership for these games has also gone down - from 101.77 million last year to 90.1 million, according to TAM television ratings. The viewership had gone up in the first four years.

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(Cumulative reach is the number of individuals who watched a channel/programme for at least one minute.)

The opening ceremony itself had turned out to be a damp squib, drawing a rating of just 1.16.

Television Viewer Ratings (TVR) were down 18.7%, with the first six games posting an average TVR of 3.76 compared to 4.63 last season.