Viewers spend 8% lesser time on IPL 2

Despite an increase in the average ‘reach' for the second season of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2) from 11 per cent to 11.90 per cent, the ‘time spent’ score – in other words, viewers’ interest or stickiness to the game – has dropped by over 8 per cent.

As a result, the television ratings (TVRs) for the event have seen a drop, according to a survey by Lintas Media Group.

TVR is a function of two things — the number of people who see the programme, which is captured in reach, and how much time they spend on watching that programme, which is captured by the time spent score.

The drop in the TVR is for both weekdays and weekends. However, higher TVRs were registered for the 8-pm matches when compared with the 4-pm matches.

Premjeet Sodhi, head of Planning Sciences Collaborative, the research team of Lintas Media Group, said advertisers who are trying to reach newer audiences can do so through the IPL event. “But how they invest would be decided on the impact as the time spent per viewer is lower for IPL 2,” he said.

Compared with other cricket tournaments, the viewership for IPL is 85 million as against an average 30-60 million drawn by other cricket tournaments. IPL 2 has already captured a viewership of 82 million in the first 20 days from 18 April to 7 May with an average of 21 million viewing the programme every day.

Results of the survey, which was conducted across 3,100 participants, along with data from another research firm aMAP, have some good news for restaurateurs as over one-fourth, or 26 per cent, of the respondents said they watched the match out of home at offices, restaurants, malls, airports and multiplexes.

A viewer's out-of-home profile shows that 34 per cent of such viewers are in the 20-plus age group, compared with 19 per cent for those in the 12-20 age group.

Now with the semi-finals and the final match coming up, “ the out-of-home audience is likely to increase and we expect eateries and restaurants to increase advertising closer to the semi-finals and the final,” added Sodhi.

Additionally, in its second season, the IPL has already developed city-based loyalties as television ratings in the home city increases when the home team is playing.

For example, Bangalore is the most passionate about its team, with viewership increasing by 85 per cent in the city when Royal Challengers, its home team, is playing. This is followed by Chennai and Mumbai.

Teams with the lowest passion score include Punjab and Hyderabad.