TV RATINGS FOR FIRST WEEK OF IPL DOWN BY 33 PERCENT FROM LAST SEASON

MUMBAI: Television ratings for the first week of IPL-15 have seen an almost 33% drop from last year. The numbers could not have come at a more inopportune time for BCCI because the Indian board has floated the tender for the next IPL media rights cycle (2023-27) with an e-auction slated for June 12.

As per data sourced from subscribers of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) by Inside Sport, the first eight games registered a TVR (percentage of people who watched the entire match) of 2.52 compared to 3.75 last season. In 2019, before Covid and with games being played all over India usually at packed stadia, the ratings were 3.85. The overall reach— total individuals who watched at least one minute—has also slid from 267.7 million last year to 229.06 million (14%).

The drop poses a question mark around an expanded IPL, featuring 10 teams this time, continuing to attract eyeballs. For the first time, the tournament has stretched to over two months. The 2011 edition, which also had 10 teams, took 50 days.

This year, 14 (74 from 60) matches have been added to the schedule and the tender document remains open to the idea of 20 more games. A leading Disney Star official had urged caution, speaking to HT, this time last year. “IPL has reached a scale where it can grow, and it was only a matter of time,” Sanjog Gupta, Sports head, Star and Disney India had said. “The watchout though is that a longer league will have a problem in the middle. Fans start dropping off as the tournament starts becoming predictable, before they come back towards the end. With the middle set to become longer with a longer window and more matches, it can potentially lead to erosion in value.”

On Friday, Disney Star refused to comment over drop in ratings. Star paid over ₹16,000 crore to become IPL’s TV and digital rights holders for 2018-22 and will again be in contention even as BCCI has aggressively doubled the base value for the coming years. “One needs to watch out before adding matches,” said a former BCCI official. “The only option is to have more double headers. Everyone including the advertisers will be watching out for ratings in the coming weeks.”

No BCCI official was available for comment.