 "Pro Kabaddi League")
The Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League has ended its second season with a 46.6 per cent increase in television ratings. From data provided by Tam India, the tournament garnered a television rating (TVR) of 1.33 in the 2015 season, against 0.91 in its inaugural season last year.
Launched on July 18, it is being telecast on eight channels under the Star India network — StarGold, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD2, Star Sports HD3, Maa Movies, Star Sports2, Plus Suvarna and Star Pravah.
The current season has been sampled by more people, due to the multilingual feed. The percentage reach (of people from the total TV viewing universe who have seen the tournament for at least one minute) of the tournament has gone up 18.6 per cent, from 3.85 last year to 4.56 this year.
The ratings were significantly bolstered by the rise in average time spent per match per viewer, by 18.3 per cent. In the 2014 season, the average TSV (time spent per viewer) was 17.92 minutes. This year, viewers are spending as much as 21.20 minutes per match, on average. Its TV run was complemented by an equally successful digital run, since the tournament was consumed by 26 million unique visitors online.
This year, the network had sponsors for the tournament, raking in an estimated Rs 50 crore in advertising and sponsorship revenue. Brands on board were State Bank of India, Flipkart, Mahindra 4W, Coca-Cola, Britannia, Himalaya Face Wash and Skore Condoms.
Vipin Nair, joint managing director and co-founder of Baseline, a sports marketing company, says: “From next year, PKL will have two seasons a year, slotted in January-February 2016 (before the T20 World Cup and Indian Premier League cricket) and in July–August, banking on facts like more viewership (a lot of young viewers watching on the digital platform) and more sponsors this season (eight associate ones).”
Adding, “Two seasons will allow sponsors/brands to have a greater continuity and deeper associations with the sport. Keeping in mind the growing interest among sponsors, the plan is also to extend each season to 10 weeks from a five-week activity now. So, all put together, 100–120 days like any other professional league globally. This will help more recall for the game and a sustained viewership that will help sponsors. Besides the increase in viewers online, the sponsors are also excited about the fact that 50 per cent of the viewers have been women and children.”
Launched on July 18, it is being telecast on eight channels under the Star India network — StarGold, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD2, Star Sports HD3, Maa Movies, Star Sports2, Plus Suvarna and Star Pravah.
The current season has been sampled by more people, due to the multilingual feed. The percentage reach (of people from the total TV viewing universe who have seen the tournament for at least one minute) of the tournament has gone up 18.6 per cent, from 3.85 last year to 4.56 this year.
The ratings were significantly bolstered by the rise in average time spent per match per viewer, by 18.3 per cent. In the 2014 season, the average TSV (time spent per viewer) was 17.92 minutes. This year, viewers are spending as much as 21.20 minutes per match, on average. Its TV run was complemented by an equally successful digital run, since the tournament was consumed by 26 million unique visitors online.
This year, the network had sponsors for the tournament, raking in an estimated Rs 50 crore in advertising and sponsorship revenue. Brands on board were State Bank of India, Flipkart, Mahindra 4W, Coca-Cola, Britannia, Himalaya Face Wash and Skore Condoms.
Vipin Nair, joint managing director and co-founder of Baseline, a sports marketing company, says: “From next year, PKL will have two seasons a year, slotted in January-February 2016 (before the T20 World Cup and Indian Premier League cricket) and in July–August, banking on facts like more viewership (a lot of young viewers watching on the digital platform) and more sponsors this season (eight associate ones).”
Adding, “Two seasons will allow sponsors/brands to have a greater continuity and deeper associations with the sport. Keeping in mind the growing interest among sponsors, the plan is also to extend each season to 10 weeks from a five-week activity now. So, all put together, 100–120 days like any other professional league globally. This will help more recall for the game and a sustained viewership that will help sponsors. Besides the increase in viewers online, the sponsors are also excited about the fact that 50 per cent of the viewers have been women and children.”
