Asia Cup 2018: India's games got 6 times more viewers than other matches

The ongoing Asia Cup tournament has seen massive ups and downs in terms of viewership. While India matches were expected to have the highest viewership, the five non-India matches have managed to garner an average viewership of just 3.2 million impressions. The three India matches, on the other hand, averaged 19.5 million impressions. The India-Pakistan (September 19) match was the top performer, with 29.4 million impressions.

The first eight matches in the tourney have attracted an average viewership of 9.3 million impressions. The Asia Cup seems to be following the Indian Premier League in terms of the male-female viewership split. Like the annual T-20 league, the Asia Cup, too, has seen 41 per cent viewership come from female viewers, while males contributed 59 per cent.

The scales are balanced in case of urban and rural viewership as the former commands 55 per cent of the viewership, while the latter has a share of 45 per cent. The Asia Cup has also helped push Star Sports 1 Hindi to the top of the viewership charts in the genre with total weekly viewership of 500.3 million impressions for week 38 (September 15 to September 21). 

Experts believe that the overall viewership has been affected by the change in the format. In 2016, the tournament followed the T-20 format, while this year, it took place in the One-Day International format. The faster pace and shorter duration of the T-20 format ensured more eyeballs for the 2016 edition of the Asia Cup. The first eight matches in 2016 average at 23.8 million impressions in viewership, while the three India matches alone (India played Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the first eight matches of Asia Cup 2016) averaged 47.9 million impressions