Vivo IPL 2018 Live Coverage: Viewership of Indian Premier League Slips in Week 1 Compared to Last Season

Mumbai, April 20: On Thursday, the first viewership data(week 15 of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India) post the start of Indian Premier League (IPL) came out. According to a report on Economic Times, IPL Season 11 has seen a drop in viewership as compared to the previous season, when it was being aired on Sony Pictures Network (SPN). This is the first time that India's biggest sporting event is taking place on Star India channels. The broadcaster won the global media rights of the league for a whopping Rs 16,347.5 crore.

According to the Economic Times report, the viewership data in the All India market (urban plus rural) for the audience of over 2 years, the total reach of the first eight matches of IPL (live telecast) this year has been at 245.71 million. It was 254.79 million matches the previous year. Similarly, for the Hindi speaking markets (HSM), the reach this year has dropped by almost 19.5% to 143.53 million, compared with 178.33 million last year.

Among the sport genre channels, Star Sports 1 Hindi has garnered the leadership position with 935856 Impressions (000s) followed by Star Sports 1 in second position with 407868 Impressions (000s).

According to a recent data shared few days back. Star India’s video on demand (VoD) mobile app Hotstar has recently touched a new record of 5.5 million users for simultaneously consuming the IPL 2018 live streaming. The platform clocked more than 70 million users since the VIVO 2018 opening match was played between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super King. The ground-breaking numbers are a proof of the increase in audience who likes to consume the live cricket matches on VoD than on traditional media.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2018 04:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).