How the game around sports is changing

While cricket still dominates Indian sports viewership pie, contribution of other sports is over 20%

As interest in non-cricket sports gains ground in India, broadcasters and advertisers are looking to maximise their gains. A report, Rise of Indian Sports Leagues by BARC India breaks down the viewership pie to help understand how the game around sports is changing.

• While cricket still dominates the Indian sports viewership pie, the contribution of other sports is now over 20 per cent (2016) 

• 80 per cent of the viewership contribution comes from just six properties — Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), Indian Super League (ISL), Rio Olympics 2016, Kabaddi World Cup 2016, Premier Badminton League, and Hockey India League

• PKL is the most popular property with a share of 61 per cent, followed by ISL at 16 per cent

• Hockey India League has the lowest viewership within all these properties

• Kabaddi has the highest Impressions as well as reach among viewers, PKL leads followed by Kabaddi World Cup 2016

• For ISL, while the viewer base of the property is low, it has extremely high stickiness amongst its viewers

• The three most popular properties, PKL, Kabaddi World Cup 2016 and ISL, all have a higher female viewership as compared to the other properties

• Kabaddi also has the highest contribution from the younger age-groups: 4-14 years and 15-30 years, among all properties

• Football has the highest contribution by the 51+ age group among all properties

• Kabaddi is followed the most in AP/Telanagana, followed by Maharashtra/Goa and Karnataka. Within that, the share of Maharashtra/Goa in PKL is much higher than for Kabaddi World Cup 2016

• ISL has maximum viewership in the football crazy markets of Kerala, West Bengal and Assam/North East/Sikkim. Interestingly, this is the only property which does not have a high viewership in Maharashtra/Goa

• Rio Olympics 2016 has the maximum viewership spread across multiple markets

• Premier Badminton League has the maximum viewership in Assam/North East/Sikkim market. Hockey India League has the highest viewership in Punjab/Haryana/Chandigarh/HP/J&K market