Mumbai : The IPL 8 TV Ratings in its first 54 matches has seen 23% higher television ratings compared to the IPL 7 held last year, according to data from TAM Media Research.
After the first 54 games, the IPL 8 TV Ratings stood at 3.6 TVR compared to 2.9 TVR for the tournament of IPL 7.
The opening match this year, between Kolkata Knight Riders and Mumbai Indians, which KKR won by seven wickets, rated 5.4 TVR compared to 4.4 TVR in the season opener in 2014.
One of the reasons for the rise in IPL 8 TV Ratings, this year is the higher amount of time that viewers are spending on watching IPL. The average time spent for the first 54 games was 45 minutes 13 seconds compared to 40 minutes 55 seconds, a 10% rise.
According to TAM data, the tournament has so far been viewed by 186 million unique viewers compared to 184 million for the same period last year. Around 69% of the all India television viewing universe tuned in to watch IPL 8 matches.
“The trend for IPL has been consistent. The last few matches that are left usually get much higher rating and that should improve the overall ratings even further,” said Rohit Gupta, president of Multi Screen Media (MSM), the official broadcaster of IPL.
“The final four teams this year were decided right at the end which has increased interest levels,” he added.
The cumulative reach of the IPL has risen from about 100 million in its first edition in 2008 to 160 million in IPL 4 to 191.4 million last year in its seventh edition. Last year, rating for the tournament grew 7% from 3.2 in 2013 to 3.6 despite a part of the tournament being played in the UAE and stiff competition from the Lok Sabha election.
This year, Multi Screen Media sold most of the tournament’s advertising inventory before the start of the tournament and is expected to make between Rs 950 crore and Rs 1,000 crore from the tournament. It has signed up 12 sponsors that include e-commerce and traditional advertisers.
E-commerce companies are the largest category in the IPL this year, with 25% of MSM’s revenues likely to come from this segment.
