IPL 2020 has seen a spike in viewership which may be a result of viewers starved of Indian cricket action due to pandemic enforced lockdown since March-end, as well as the half-hour early start to evening matches.
A total of 269 million viewers watched IPL in its opening week which means 11 million more people saw per match compared to the last year 2019 despite one fewer match- only 7 played this time.
IPL 2020 Viewership Increase By 15% And IPL Opener Watched By 21% More People Than Last Year 2019
IPL viewership in its first week saw a 15 percent growth from last year, with total viewing minutes of 60.6 billion, as per a first-week viewership report released by television measurement body BARC. There was a 21 percent growth in average impressions per match (39 million) compared to last year.
The IPL opener between Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians on September 19 was watched by 158 million viewers which is 21% higher than 2019. The total viewing minutes soared up to 11.2 billion, which was 65 percent more than the CSK-RCB season opener last year and not too far off from the 2019 final viewing minutes(12.1 billion).
Jay Shah Declares 200 Million Viewers Saw Opening MI-CSK Clash
The digital viewership response for Hotstar, which follows a subscription model, wasn’t immediately available on request, but BCCI secretary Jay Shah had earlier declared that a total of 200 million viewers including television and digital mobile viewers saw the MI-CSK clash.
Significantly, Star Sports, the broadcasters who pay Rs. 300 crores for each IPL edition, are happy to see the advertising volumes increase by 15%.
Viewing minutes (billion)
IPL 2020 – 60.6
IPL 2019 – 52.8
IPL 2018 – 42.7
Average impressions (millions) per match
IPL 2020 – 39
IPL 2019 – 32.2
IPL 2018 – 25.8
Cumulative reach (millions)
IPL 2020 – 269
IPL 2019 – 268
IPL 2018 – 246