MUMBAI: Television impressions for the Indian Premier League has witnessed a growth of 41% over the last three years between 2016 and 2018, data analysed by the Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India), the sole television audience measurement agency operating in the Indian market, has revealed.
The 2018 edition of the IPL, meanwhile, saw viewership grow 16% over that of the previous season, BARC’s analysis indicates.
Beyond impressions, average time spent watching IPL matches too exhibits an upward trend. From an average of 28 minutes in 2016, it increased to 34 minutes in 2018, the study shows.
In terms of demographic profile, the male-female contribution to IPL has remained largely consistent, with a marginal increase in viewership share of female viewers in the 2018 edition.
It is also interesting to note that viewership share of NCCS (New Consumer Classification System) CDE has dropped over the last 3 years, while viewership share of NCCS B has shown a growth. It is pertinent to note that demographic profiles were earlier classified under Socio Economic Classes (SEC) A, B, C, D, etc.
Over the last 3 years, viewership of each age group has registered significant growth: Kids (<15 yrs) have registered 52% growth, that of 15-21 yrs has grown 50%, while 22-30 yrs have shown 20% growth. Within age groups however, BARC observed changing patterns of relative contribution to the growing IPL viewership.
Clearly, IPL viewership continues to enjoy growth year on year, pointing to the fact that it remains a dynamic and much sought-after property on TV.
IPL has a huge share of overall sports viewership in India. While the 2016 edition of contributed to 22% of total sports viewership, that figure has almost doubled to 43% in 2018.
Viewership of Sports genre
IPL continues to enjoy a huge share of overall sports viewership in India. While the 2016 edition of contributed to 22% of total sports viewership, that figure has almost doubled to 43% in 2018.
Share of Sports viewership jumped 2 percentage points in 2016 when IPL was on, and that scale up has only risen further in 2018.
The share of GEC genre declines marginally in all 3 years, as viewers tune in to IPL matches during prime-time when general entertainment content otherwise rules the roost.
Across 2016 and 2017, growth in viewership of movies genre is attributable to telecast of matches on SET Max. However, in 2018, with the IPL telecast moving primarily to sports channels, there is a clear drop in viewership of movies genre, and a marked increase in that of sports genre.
HD Viewership
Sports genre performs relatively better on HD than SD – both in terms of share of impressions as well as engagement. Also, HD has emerged as the preferred mode of viewing for cricket.
Driven by availability of IPL on more HD channels, higher uptake of HD subscriptions, as well as rising penetration of HD TV sets. Corollary indicator is rise in viewership share of NCCS A audience in 2018: possibly, growth of HD viewership is being driven by affluent audiences seeking a better viewing experience.
Team Loyalty and Viewership Contribution by Cities/Markets
At an all India level, games featuring Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Mumbai Indians (MI) generated the highest viewership, while Rajasthan Royals (RR) garners the lowest.
Growth in viewership of “home-city/state” for matches featuring CSK is highest when compared with those featuring other teams – clearly highlighting the strong connect between captian MS Dhoni’s team.
Chennai/TN-Pondicherry: viewership from Chennai market grew 119% when CSK played. One strong factor for this is also the return of the team to IPL after a two-year hiatus.
CSK is one of the out-performing teams in IPL and has been consistently led by one of the most popular Indian cricket stars – MS Dhoni. Both factors add to the popularity of CSK games.
The story is quite the reverse for teams like Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils – from the perspective of TV viewership of home cities/states. These two teams appear to be struggling to attract viewership of their natural fan base. This can partly be due to relatively weaker performance of the teams and their star players.
Language Factor
IPL 2018 saw an uptake in viewership from Regional channels. BARC analysis of viewership share across multiple languages shows that while Hindi continues to dominate, there is a substantial viewership of telecast in regional languages as well.
IPL 2018 generated almost equal viewership for English as well as regional language (i.e., other than Hindi)
As TV penetrates further into semi-urban and rural areas, and TV ownership grows at a faster pace in these town-classes, uptake of IPL (and possibly other sports properties) in regional languages is likely to show a continued upward trend, the BARC data indicates.
This opportunity will not be missed by brands looking to target emerging markets as well as those focusing on local markets. Broadcasts in more regional languages will further aid this process.
Out of Home Viewership
As per BARC India’s OOH measurement service, which tracks viewing across 900+ establishments in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, sports emerged as the most preferred genre (accounting for 70% of the total OOH viewership) during IPL 2018. Of the 44 mn walk-ins during April-May, a record 33 mn watched IPL in the OOH space.
IPL 2018 garnered 23.7 mn Impressions from OOH viewing of live matches across 3 cities, leading to an incremental viewership of 8% over viewership from TV currency panel.
(TG: 15+ , Delhi/ Mumbai/ Bangalore)
Number of Brands Advertising
As popularity of IPL as a TV property remains buoyant, so does the number of brands that seek higher visibility through this platform. Over the last 3 years, the total number of advertised brands has grown from 138 to 247 (a growth of 79%). The 247 brands that advertised on IPL 2018 were accounted for by 123 advertisers (count of which has grown 50% since 2016). While part of this growth may be on account of increase in number of broadcasting channels, there is little doubt that IPL remains a favourite destination for brands.
Smartphones, Cellular Phone Services and Internet/Online Shopping categories remain the top 3 advertised categories during IPL telecast. The primary driving factor is that IPL sponsor brands fall under these categories.
In 2018, a higher number of F&B categories were seen in the top 10 advertised categories, and lesser durables. In 2016 and 17, categories related to automobiles/tyres, air conditioners and DTH service providers featured in the top 10 (also by share of impressions). But in 2018, these categories have moved down in the ranks marginally. In their place, fast-moving F&B categories like biscuits, pan masala, and aerated soft drinks have not only found their way into top 10, but also improved their relative ranking.
Net Take-aways
*IPL as a TV property continues to grow in terms of viewership and engagement with audience.
*IPL viewership has a male skew, but share of female viewership has marginally risen in 2018.
*Young audiences (22-40 years) is major contributor to IPL viewership.
*IPL drives up sports viewership, and simultaneously impacts viewership of other genres like GEC.
*HD share of IPL viewership shows rising trend. This also highlights growing preference for Sports viewing on HD.
*Matches featuring CSK and MI remain the big draws on TV. Both these teams not only drive up viewership in their home cities/states, but also at all India level.
*IPL 2018 has witnessed huge uptake on regional language channels
*Viewership share of regional-language telecast (23%) is at par with that of English language telecast (22%). Hindi dominates with 55%
*Smartphones, Cellular Phone Services and Internet/ Online Shopping are consistently the top 3 advertised categories on TV during IPL. This indicates that for marketers, IPL remains a platform to engage with young, affluent audiences.
*Out of Home viewing contributes to a sizeable share of total IPL viewership. Measurement across 3 metros (Mumbai, Delhi & Bengaluru) accounted for 8% incremental audiences over TV home panel.
Points of Reference
Following channels & period have been considered:
IPL 2016: 09 Apr-29 May; Sony ESPN(v), Sony ESPN HD(v), Sony Max, Sony Six, Sony Six HD
IPL 2017: 05 Apr-21 May; Sony ESPN(v), Sony ESPN HD(v), Sony Max, Sony Six, Sony Six HD
IPL 2018: 07 Apr-27 May; Asianet Movies, Star Suvarna Plus, Jalsha Movies, Star Gold HD, Star Maa Movies, Star Plus SD+HD, Star Gold, Star Pravah, Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports Select 1 SD + HD, DD Sport, Star Sports 2 SD + HD
Note:
Only live telecast of IPL matches have been considered
TG: All India 2+ Viewership is basis Avg Impressions All Ad Impressions data is normalized to 10 sec.
