Telugu and Bangla markets witness highest growth in IPL 11 viewership, minus finals

As everyone waits for the upcoming set of BARC India data to reveal viewership numbers of the final match of IPL11 that was also telecast on Star Gold and Star Plus, along with other channels, BestMediaInfo tried to analyse which parts of the audience grew the most this year.

Of the four regional feeds of IPL by Star India, Telugu and Bengali have been the maximum viewership growth markets in the initial 58 matches of IPL 2018 (sans finals). Among the top five markets of IPL 2018 in terms of viewership, AP/Telangana has grown the most, showing 28% growth, while West Bengal has grown by 22%.

As per BARC India data, Maharashtra/Goa is the biggest market for IPL viewership with 538.369 million Impressions, after a growth of 3% over IPL 2017. AP/Telangana follows next with 315.089 million Impressions. Gujarat/ Daman and Diu/ Dadra Nagar Haveli put together brought 264.732 million Impressions showing 18% increase, while Karnataka stood next with 250.209 million Impressions with 17% increase. West Bengal, the second highest growth market, was marginally lower than Karnataka, clocking 250.190 million Impressions.

Overall, BARC India mapped 15% growth in the All India 2+ market with 2.818 billion Impressions, up from last year’s 2.461 billion Impressions. Between urban and rural, the viewership split was such that 59.19% viewership of IPL 2018 sans finals has come from the urban markets. Urban markets grew by 24% in viewership, while rural grew by a mere 3%.

From a gender split point of view, female viewership has shown a promising growth of 17% over IPL 2017, despite being a high base. Female viewership clocked 1.181 billion, over last year’s 1.005 billion Impressions. Male viewership, too, has shown a 12% rise, clocking 1.636 billion Impressions in IPL 2018 sans the finals.

Splitting the viewership of IPL 2018 across various age-groups showed that the maximum growth has come from 51+ bracket that grew from 405.159 million Impressions in 2017 to 486.233 million Impressions in 2018, witnessing a growth of 20%. The next biggest growth came from the 31-40 age bracket that depicted a 19% growth, clocking 454.079 million Impressions, followed by 41-50 age group that showed 18% growth, yet clocked higher viewership of 462.961 million Impressions.

The growth from the kids’ age bracket of 9-14 is also quite promising to the tune of 15%, rising from 349.741 million Impressions in 2017 to 402.531 million Impressions in 2018. Viewership from the 22-30 age group grew by 11% followed by 15-21 that grew by 6%.

IPL 10 was telecast on Sony Max, Sony Six (SD+HD), Sony ESPN (SD+HD) and IPL 11 was telecast on Star Sports 1 (SD+HD), Star Sports 1 Hindi (SD+HD), Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports Select 1 (SD+ HD), Star Suvarna Plus, Star Maa Movies, Star Jalsha and one match with a delayed feed on DD Sports.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com