Mumbai: India’s premier football league – Hero Indian Super League (ISL) Season 6, had a spectacular star studded opening in Kochi on October 20th, 2019. The laugue aired on on the Star Sports Network, Hotstar and Jio TV opened with encouraging viewership trends with 2X growth on TV as well as Hotstar by garnering 34 Mn* viewers tuned in to watch the Opening game of Hero Indian Super League 2019-20
The season opener between arch rivals Kerala Blasters FC and ATK registered 1.2 TVR and 96%** growth in TV ratings among M15+AB Urban and an impressive 97% viewership growth on Hotstar over last season. The two teams have a long history and have met previously in two finals – 2014 and 2016, both of which were won by ATK. Kochi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was a sea of yellow and the home side gave its fans a lot to celebrate by winning the highly contested game 2-1 and setting a standard for the ongoing season.
The launch event also witnessed high octane performances by Bollywood Superstars Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani who grooved to their superhit tracks and joined in the celebrations.
There has been a consistent rise in the fan following for Indian football in the country and the Hero ISL has been at the heart of this revolution getting bigger and better with each passing year. A seven month wait ended with the highly anticipated season opener reached audience on TV& mobile screens with the same being broadcast in 7 languages and 20 channels.
This season with the inclusion of the two new teams, Hyderabad FC and Odisha FC, the Hero ISL will see more diverse fan cultures and an increase in the footprint of Indian football in new frontiers.
Opening with a flying start, the Hero Indian Super League, will be bigger and better than ever before, with more audiences expected to tune-in to catch their favourite team battle for the championship and coveted AFC Champions League play-offs spot.
* Since 2015
** Source: BARC preView, Fig. are TV + OOH, Only Match Telecast Hours considered
** For the growth vs last year, comparison has been done with Star Channels on TV versus TV+OOH of this year
