India-West Indies Super Eight match attracts 18 mn viewers

Delivering an average television rating of 5.2 per cent on STAR Cricket, the highest so far in the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup being played in England, the India-West Indies match on June 12 also turned out to be the most-watched one. Over 18 million viewers tuned in late at night, making it one of the most-watched among all individual matches of both the T20 World Cups. However, to their disappointment, defending champion India lost its first Super Eight match.

The 5.2 rating stood out as the highest among the first 16 matches played in the current ICC T20 World Cup and the second-highest after the finals of the 2007 event that India had won, according to data released by overnight television ratings agency Audience Measurement and Analytics Ltd (aMap).

India had beaten Pakistan in the finals of the inaugural 2007 ICC T20 World Cup held in South Africa. The match between the arch-rivals had generated a viewership of over 14.4 million and record ratings of 6 per cent for cable viewers over 15 years of age, considered the key demographics for cricket by media planners.

Also, the average viewership ratings of the India-West Indies tie is higher than the average ratings of all the 59 matches of the recently-concluded second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which was telecast on Set Max.

However, according to the aMap data, the average ratings of the current T20 World Cup on STAR Cricket is less than 2 per cent as all the non-India matches have got average ratings of around 1.5. Media agencies are disappointed with the overall poor ratings of the current World Cup, considering that India is the defending champion.

The India-Bangladesh match on June 6 recorded the second-highest viewership among all the 30 matches played in the two T20 World Cups at that stage.

For this reason, media planners are now expressing their disappointment with the overall dip in ratings of the ongoing T20 World Cup. “India matches are expected to give higher ratings. But for other matches, the interest among viewers has seen a decline. Maybe it has to do with the overexposure of the T20 format on television -- first IPL and now World Cup,” said a senior media planner of a leading Delhi-based agency.

However, ESPN STAR Sports, the host broadcaster for the ICC T20 World Cup, still hopes to raise around Rs 225 crore from advertising during the 17-day tournament as it has manage to sell most of its inventory much before the event started.