While IPL viewers are watching different content this year, the sporting property over the years has contributed significantly to television viewership.
A recent analysis by BARC suggests that the core Indian Premier League (IPL) viewership share on television reduced to just two percent this year from 20 percent in 2019. The analysis also suggests that these viewers are probably spending time watching repeats of the Twenty20 cricket tournament.
The IPL audience has shifted to other genres on TV this year as the league has been delayed due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
IPL viewers are now opting to watch content on general entertainment channels (GECs), movies and news channels — viewership for which has increased by two percent, seven percent and 10 percent, respectively, as compared to last year.
While genres like news and movies are seeing IPL viewers coming on to their channels, the share of these genres in overall TV consumption has started to taper. This means that the fatigue level has started to set in for TV content which would not have been the case had IPL been aired.
Over the years, IPL has boosted TV viewership despite witnessing competition from online games, video-on-demand platforms and YouTube.
Although IPL is available on Hotstar, the platform did not take away TV viewers. In fact, it has proved complemented to IPL’s overall viewership.
While IPL viewers are watching different content this year, the sporting property over the years has contributed significantly to TV viewership. This is why IPL not happening as scheduled, is a loss for the larger TV audience.
Take the example of IPL’s 11th edition which witnessed a growth of 41 percent over the 2016 season in terms of TV impressions, and grew at 16 percent in the 2018 edition over previous season.
Beyond impressions, the average time spent watching IPL matches has also show an upward trend. From an average of 28 minutes in 2016, it increased to 34 minutes in 2018.
Same was the case in 2019 when the time spent in watching IPL continued to increase. In the 12th edition (2019) time spent by viewers was 338 billion minutes, up from 300 billion minutes in 2018.
IPL upping the game for sports channels
The tournament has over the years continued to enjoy a huge share of overall sports viewership in India. While the 2016 edition contributed to 22 percent of total sports viewership, the number almost doubled to 43 percent in 2018.
The share of sports viewership jumped two percent in 2016 when IPL was on, and that scale up has only risen further over the years like three percent in 2017 and five percent in 2018.
Across 2016 to 2018, when viewers tuned in to IPL matches during the prime time, share of the GEC genre — which rules the roost otherwise during prime-time — declined marginally in all three years.
A similar drop in viewership can also be seen in the movie genre, but only in 2018 when IPL telecast moved primarily to sports channels. In 2016 and 2017, growth in viewership of movies genre is attributable to telecast of matches on SET Max.
IPL attracting TV viewers across regions
When it comes to IPL viewership across languages, the league has a good hold on regional markets as well. Take the example of IPL 2018 when viewership share of regional-language telecast was 23 percent — similar to that of English language telecast at 22 percent. Hindi viewership share dominated with 55 percent.
Brands love IPL
When viewership increases, so does advertiser interest. Over the last three years, the total number of advertised brands has grown to 247 from 138 — a growth of 79 percent. This shows that IPL remains the favourite destination for brands.First Anniversary Offer: Subscribe to Moneycontrol PRO’s annual plan for ₹1/- per day for the first year and claim exclusive benefits worth ₹20,000. Coupon code: PRO365
