The TV ratings for cricket is at an all-time high thanks to brilliant performances by the Indian Men’s and Women’s teams in recent times. The Indian Men’s team is currently engaged with Australia in a Test and ODI series at home.
The Indian Women’s team, however, crashed out of the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 which is being played in South Africa. The Harmanpreet Kaur-led side lost to Australia by 5 runs in the first semi-final of the tournament.
The first cricket test match between India and Australia is the third highest-rated bilateral test match in the history of BARC in seven years, while the match between India and Pakistan, in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, is the second highest-rated women’s T20 match in the last seven years.
After a concerning decline during the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year, the number of people watching cricket on television has increased over the past 15 months. The audience for the Asia Cup, India’s bilateral matches with Australia and South Africa, and now the Border Gavaskar series have all significantly increased.
Cricket Viewership On TV Continues To Be Robust: Disney Star
According to the data, the first test of the ongoing 2023 Border-Gavaskar trophy was one of the top five most-watched test matches since 2018. In comparison to the first match between India and England played in 2021, the first test between India and Australia saw a 43% rise in the Average Minute Audience (7.3 million).
“Cricket viewership on TV continues to be robust. This test match is the third most watched bilateral test match in the last five years, only behind two India-England test matches, of which one was a day and night match,” Sanjog Gupta, head, sports at Disney Star told Mint.
Gupta said that the India-Pakistan match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup is the second most-watched match, following the India-Australia final of the T20 World Cup. The company said it aired all the games of the Indian women’s team which it played live before the world cup and that potentially contributed to the increase in viewership. Gupta expects these ratings to remain till the IPL.
“Both these are events of stature. When such things come along, especially in live sports, it automatically lends itself to higher viewing. porting events are high on stature, and communal viewing and the immediacy factor making them ideal to watch on TV. Viewing on TV also allows fans to calibrate attention/involvement and manage distractions. This seamless, lean-back experience means that the average duration of viewing sessions on TV is longer than on smaller screens,” he said.
According to BARC subscriber data from the previous year, the India-Australia series and the Asia Cup 2022 both attracted roughly 13% higher viewers than comparable events.
Even more of a jump (30%) was seen in the India-South Africa series compared to their June matchup. According to the BARC data, there was severe viewer weariness in the IPL in 2022, with 30–35% less viewers in the first matches.