Ecstatic with the response it received in terms of viewership and ratings, BCCI President Sourav Ganguly is over the moon with Indian Premier League’s (IPL) smashing success in terms of ratings and viewership. There were plenty of concerns over organizing the 13th season of IPL being scheduled during the time of Coronavirus. After plenty of discussions, BCCI and IPL’s official broadcaster Star Sports network worked out the legalities to ensure the organization of the T20 league.
The 2020 edition of the world’s most popular T20 tournament was supposed to kick-off in March earlier this year but was postponed for an indefinite period by the BCCI due to the COVID-19 situation in India. The 48-year-old Ganguly spilled beans on the discussions which were held in a build-up to the tournament and how everybody was concerned over the bio-bubble environment.
“Unbelievable and I am not surprised at all. When we were discussing with Star (official broadcasters of the Dream11 IPL 2020) and all the people concerned – if we have to do it this year and one month prior to the tournament, we were contemplating, whether this can happen or not, what will be the ultimate result of the bio-bubble and will it be successful,” Ganguly said while speaking on Star Sports Cricket Live show.
“We decided to move ahead with our plan, because we wanted to bring normalcy in everyone’s lives and wanted to bring the game back. I am not surprised with the feedback. This is the best tournament in the world,” he added.
After months of deliberation, BCCI decided to stage the tournament in the United Arab Emirates from September 19 to November 10. The opening week of the tournament was watched by 269 million viewers, 11 million more per match compared to the like period of last year’s edition. According to a BARC-Nielsen report titled ‘Television Viewership and Advertising Consumption of IPL-13 2020’, the opening week of the ongoing IPL edition saw a 15 per cent growth in viewing minutes as compared to 2019.
The IPL 13 has already witnessed many thrilling clashes with matches being decided in Super Overs.
“There have been so many Super Overs, we recently witnessed a double super over, we saw Shikhar Dhawan’s batting, we saw Rohit Sharma, we saw all the young players and we witnessed the comeback of KL Rahul’s KXIP from the bottom of the table,” said the BCCI President.
“You will get everything here! I can bet you that the IPL has been a smashing success this year, in terms of the ratings, the number of people who have watched the game,” he added.
The league stage of the tournament is scheduled to end this week while the playoffs will be played next week, with the final to be played in Dubai on November 10.