World Cup TV Ratings continue to set benchmarks

Record viewership of more than 127 million people till the 10th match

The ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 continues to touch new highs in viewership and ratings as quality encounters enthrall viewers across the country. By the end of the 10th match, the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 (including the opening ceremony and match telecast), has been sampled by a record 127 million individuals.

This is 64% of the total C&S audience in the country as per the latest ratings issued by research agency TAM. The live matches alone have been watched by 115 million viewers (ESS bouquet + Doordarshan) and 106 million viewers on STAR Cricket and other ESS channels alone.

The first 10 matches have delivered a solid average of 3.1 TVR which is a significant jump from the previous edition in 2007. Match 10 between Pakistan and Sri Lanka has rated highest amongst all non-India matches with a rating of 4.6, followed by 2.5 in the Netherlands vs England game.

The live streaming on www.espnstar.com/cwclive has been a huge hit. The website has served 6.9 million video streams till March 01, 2011. The epic India- England encounter played on a Sunday drew as many as 1.45 million video streams. Over 5 million Unique Visitors have enjoyed fantastic ICC Cricket World Cup Matches online with ESPN STAR.

Commenting on the ratings, Sanjay Kailash, Executive Vice President – Ad Sales & New Media, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd, said, “The ratings for the non-India matches are very healthy and point towards increasing viewer interest in the tournament as a whole. Credit must also be given to the teams who are dishing out such exciting fare and our advertisers are lapping it up.

We expect the trend to continue as the tournament progresses towards the second phase as teams get into top gear to qualify for the knock-out stages.”

Date	Match	Channels	TVR
19-Feb-11	M-1 IND/BAN	ESPN STAR Sports bouquet & DD	10.2
20-Feb-11	M-2 KEN/NZ	ESPN STAR Sports bouquet	0.9
20-Feb-11	M-3 SL/CAN	ESPN STAR Sports bouquet	1.9
21-Feb-11	M-4 AUS/ZIM	ESPN STAR Sports bouquet	2
22-Feb-11	M-5 NED/ENG	ESPN STAR Sports bouquet	2.5
23-Feb-11	M-6 PAK/ KEN	ESPN STAR Sports bouquet	1.9
24-Feb-11	M-7 WI/SA	ESPN STAR Sports bouquet	2.4
25-Feb-11	M-8 NZ/AUS	ESPN STAR Sports bouquet	1.1
25-Feb-11	M-9 BAN/IRE	ESPN STAR Sports bouquet	1.3
26-Feb-11	M-10 PAK/SL	ESPN STAR Sports bouquet	4.6
Average TVR			3.1
*Source: TAM Peoplemeter System

Market: All India Channel: ESPN, STAR Sports, STAR Cricket, DD1