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The Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) viewership ended its eighth edition with a 21 per cent increase in television viewership in the recently concluded season. The annual twenty-20 tournament’s average television rating (TVR) for the 2015 edition is 3.8 as compared to 3.1 in the 2014 edition. These ratings are for the cumulative viewership on all the channels that IPL matches were broadcast live on the Multi Screen Media (MSM) network, provided by TAM India.
The ratings are for the all India market considering cable and satellite viewers above 4 years of age.
While the league matches averaged at 3.6 TVR, the last four matches, including the final, averaged 5.9 TVR, with the final rating at 7.4 TVR. While the viewership (number of people watching the tournament at any given point in time during the live telecast) has increased in double digits, the reach (number of people who have seen the tournament for at least a minute) has gone up marginally from 191 million (viewers) in 2014 to 192 million this year.
Of the total TV viewing universe, 71 per cent sampled the tournament, as compared to 72 per cent last year. This is a reflection of the change in the composition and size of the universe from year to year, and not an indication of decrease in actual viewership.
Another reason for the people at MSM to celebrate is the average time spent per viewer per match has grown by nine per cent from 42:24 minutes to 46:17 minutes. “This season showed that the tournament has truly matured. While the reach has seen marginal growth, there has been a significant increase in the time spent per viewer and hence the depth in the viewership has increase. Brands will be happy since it means that so many people have spent a considerable amount of time viewing or engaging with them on-air,” says a media planner.
The matches were aired on the MSM network in five language feeds. While the pre and post-match shows and coverage continues to be in Hinglish, the commentary is available in English (Sony Six and Sony Six HD), Hindi (Sony Max), Bangla (Sony Aath) and Tamil and Telugu (Sony Kix).
