IPL season 16 sees big recovery in viewership

It’s sweet 16 for the Indian Premier League which, in its 2023 edition, is seeing a big resurgence in viewership. Data pouring in after 10 matches show that the 16 th season of the T20 tourney is attracting plenty of eyeballs.

Disney Star, the official television broadcaster of IPL, clocked a cumulative reach of 30.7 crore viewers for the first 10 matches, up 23 per cent compared to previous season. Quoting Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) data, the broadcaster said this was the second highest ever in IPL history. The watch time was estimated at 6230 crore minutes for the first 10 matches. Television ratings for IPL has grown by about 25 per cent among affluent male urban sports audiences.

Sanjog Gupta, Head-Sports, Disney Star, told businessline: ” The record-breaking viewership figures demonstrates the strength of IPL as a sporting property, combined with the power of Star Sports in aggregating viewers. The peak concurrency on TV for the opening match is at 5.6 crore, the highest ever in IPL history (excluding Covid times). (https://www.jokersmokershop.com/) The overwhelming response is also a testament of the quality of talent that we have on air, world-class coverage, and the brand of storytelling which we have refined over the last decade.”

Digital rights-owner Jio Cinema, too, is seeing a spike in viewership. In a statement, JioCinema said on Thursday concurrent viewership touched 2.2 crore for the nail-biting match played between Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday.

“JioCinema’s free streaming of the TATA IPL 2023 for all viewers in India has resulted in a record-breaking number of views till now of over 550 crore. This followed a robust first weekend which amassed 147 crore views,” the statement added.

Bounce back factors
Pointing out that the viewership ratings have bounced back, Gupta said: “The viewership fatigue that was seen in the previous season has clearly worn off, and the immense desire to watch IPL has been renewed. Also, IPL is back in India and is not restricted to one State…it is travelling to 12 different cities, creating buzz and excitement that fans were used to till 2019.”

“The two new franchises (Gujarat Titans and Lucknow Super Giants) are also now being able play at their home venues, which has led to a steep jump in viewership in those regions. Also, our campaign and expanded programming has helped us grow the reach beyond just core viewers and attract many peripheral viewers ,” he added.

This IPL season is unlike any other. With the media rights for IPL sold separately for TV and digital, the ongoing battle for eyeballs between Disney Star and Viacom18 is heating up. It’s early days yet but all the signs portend to a great outing by all. The Hindu BusinessLine