Ipl 2018 grabs 423 million eyeballs in two weeks across the country

IPL 2018 grabs 423 million eyeballs in two weeks across the country In terms of viewership, impressions in million, the tournament has seen a 27 per cent jump over the last year

The second week of the Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL 2018) saw it reach 423 million viewers across the country on multiple platforms from the Star India stable. The league, currently on air on the Star Sports network on TV and Hotstar on digital, has thus registered 10 per cent growth across platforms over the last year (the first two weeks).

According to BARC (Broadcast Audience Research Council of India) data provided by Star India, the IPL registered a cumulative reach — total number of people to have sampled the tournament — of 303 million in the first two weeks in TV homes, and an additional 9.5 million in out-of-home TV viewing (restaurants, bars and pubs). Last year, the IPL registered a reach of 295 million viewers in the first two weeks. This includes only home viewership, not out of home. The tournament’s reach on Hotstar for the first weeks was 110 million. This data is for the all India market, including viewers above 2 years old.

Star India MD Sanjay Gupta says, “We set out with the aim of increasing the total reach (TV+digital) of the IPL this year to 700 million and given the trend in the first two weeks, we are on way to

achieving it. Since this is the first time that TV and digital rights rest with the same company, it is also now possible to look at TV reach and viewership holistically across platforms. Media is getting fragmented with the emergence of digital and this way, advertisers now have access to total viewership data.�

In terms of viewership, impressions in million, the tournament has seen a 27 per cent jump over the last year at a total viewership across platforms amounting to 289 million in urban markets measuring viewers above 2 years old. Since viewership refers to the number of people watching the IPL at any given point in its telecast, an increase in reach means that the time spent on the tournament is also increasing.

Of the 289 million impressions, TV viewing audiences at home contributed 247 million, while out-of-home TV viewing accounted for 5.5 million and 36 million came from Hotstar.

With Star India pushing localisation of the IPL broadcast in the South Indian markets and West Bengal, the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh/Telangana along with West Bengal saw viewership increase 39 per cent to 100 million. Viewership on Hotstar in these states was 12 million, while viewership at home was 87 million.

Read More: IPL Points table