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With the final match of IPL 6 set to be played tomorrow, television viewership ratings have remained stable despite controversies of spot fixing surrounding the tournament.
“It is status quo in terms of television viewership till the seventh week of the tournament. The all-India average viewership has remained constant at 3 with no great jump or fall. The stadiums are still full and not a second of airtime is left to be sold,” said Neeraj Vyas, Business Head, SET Max. TAM (television audience measurement) data shows that even the Hindi speaking markets have recorded average television viewership at 2.9 for the tournament.
No clear indicator
TAM ratings, however, have not really been a clear indicator of viewership this season. “Since TAM has included five more States in which smaller markets have been included, the ratings are not expected to be accurate this season compared to the previous one. It is not an apple to apple comparison, but almost an apple to watermelon comparison,” added Vyas.
New States, such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat, also led to a fall in viewership as TAM expanded its universe. Smaller markets in these States with less than 1 lakh population have been included this season, which have not yielded a significant jump in viewership.
“Apart from adding more towns, the process of digitalisation has also not helped in giving a clear picture of the ratings this season,” added Vyas.
However, an increase in marketing budgets by official broadcaster Max led to a renewed interest among advertisers.
“The entertaining communication campaign has helped win back the confidence of advertisers this season,” he said. Max has a television campaign on IPL 6 featuring Farah Khan. In fact, media buyers have been claiming that more than television viewership and ratings, it has been the enhanced advertising budgets of sponsors and airtime buy on the channel that have helped the tournament this season.
Erstwhile sponsors such as Samsung and Godrej are also back this season.
stadium attendance
Apart from television viewership, stadium attendance also indicates a better audience presence this season. With tickets priced from Rs 1,000 to Rs 14,000, filling up stadium seats has not been difficult.
“Apart from places such as Mohali, which is outside the city, stadiums in smaller towns such as Ranchi and Dharmsala have also witnessed full attendance,” Vyas said
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