IPL 2020: Opening week scores 21% audience growth over past season

The Indian Premier League 2020 LIVE broadcast has shattered opening week television audience and streaming records for all the previous seasons. The opening on television, mobile screens and advertisement front has been unprecedented.

The IPL Season 13, being played in the UAE, in the opening week has recorded 21% growth in average impressions per match over the 2019 season. The record growth is registered even as the week has featured a match less than the previous year and fewer channels are dedicated to the LIVE broadcast of the IPL, states a Broadcast Audience Research Council report.

Star Sports 1 Hindi, the sports channel with the highest ratings for the week between September 19 and 25, has registered almost 50% growth in impressions over the previous week – up from 64,580,000 impressions to 1,247,407,000 impressions.

1 CSK MI RATINGS
Courtesy: BARC
IPL RATINGS
Courtesy: BARC

According to the BARC data, 269 million viewers have watched IPL in its opening week, this is an increase of 11 million over the corresponding period during the 2018 season.
The opening match, featuring defending champions Mumbai Indians and last year’s other finalists Chennai Super Kings, has witnessed a viewership of 52 million impressions, which is 29% higher than 2019, while the 158 million viewers are 21% more than the 2019 season opener. One out of 3 TV viewers watched IPL-13 Live, whereas 44% of TV Households watched IPL-13 LIVE.

Advertising volumes has witnessed a 15% growth within Star Sports set of channels for the Live matches, excluding Star Sport 1 Bangla, Star Sports 2 (HD+SD).

2 CUMMULATIVE VIEWING
Courtesy: BARC

Both Advertiser and Brand counts have also increased significantly as compared to the earlier season

3 AD VOLUME GROWTH
Courtesy: BARC

4 ADVERTISER BRAND GROWTH

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUMMARY – SMARTPHONE BEHAVIOUR

OTT has witnessed a 32% increase in user base for the IPL week over the previous week, primarily driven by massive gains seen in Disney+Hotstar. The growth is registered despite the fact that Star Sports has put the IPL on Disney+ Hotstar behind a paywall, which means that the LIVE streaming of the league is only available to the paid subscribers.

Significant Gains in Audience base is also seen for related Sports Apps and Fantasy Sports Apps and Disney+ Hotstar during the IPL week.

Admin Sportz Front

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