 "IPL 5 is doing brilliantly with viewers")
That shocks you, doesn’t it, as you’ve seen headlines like this one: IPL-5 is not grabbing eyeballs in
The Hindu Businessline.
Or this one: IPL 5 TV ratings dip in
Moneycontrol.com.
Or, indeed, this one, on
Firstpost:
IPL 5 TVRs lowest in tournament history. And finally, this one, on advertising and media trade website
exchange4media.com
: IPL5: Season delivers lowest ratings in tourney history. [caption id=“attachment_273473” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The stadia seem to be fuller than in previous years. AFP”]
[/caption] “According to a TAM study, the first 6 matches of IPL 5 averaged 3.76 TVRs; lowest in tournament’s 5 years. TVR measures the popularity of a programme or advert by comparing the number of target audience viewers who watched against the total available as a whole. IPL will need to get it’s act together. The matches of IPL 5 also reached 90.1 mn viewers — lower than 101.7 mn viewers in IPL 4. The numbers, on their own, may not mean much. Big budget soaps and reality shows would probably be very happy with 3.76 but then they have a much longer run,” Firstpost had said yesterday. It’s important to remember that the focus needs to be on the cumulative viewership, not the viewership in each match. Even if the cumulative reach of IPL 5 (thus far) has dropped by about 10 million,
IPL 5’s reach
is still the second largest in the history of the tournament. Considering the explosion in the number of competitors to the IPL – malls, movies, other sports, all the other channels available on TV – the fact that IPL 5 has lost only 10 percent when measured by cumulative reach is creditable – and SET Max should be celebrating the achievement. The stadia seem to be fuller than in previous years, and tickets seem to be more difficult to get. Added to these superficial measures, we have a more unpredictable tournament with new kid on the block Pune Warriors performing well. The tournament promises to be tighter and more hard-fought than previous versions. If these ‘signs’ are overlaid with the numbers for the early matches, the elements are in place for IPL 5 viewership to surpass last year’s – which is what media agency
MEC suggested
in their pre-tournament research. So let’s really, just sit tight and see it unfold.
Anant Rangaswami was, until recently, the editor of Campaign India magazine, of which Anant was also the founding editor. Campaign India is now arguably India's most respected publication in the advertising and media space. Anant has over 20 years experience in media and advertising. He began in Madras, for STAR TV, moving on as Regional Manager, South for Sony’s SET and finally as Chief Manager at BCCL’s Times Television and Times FM. He then moved to advertising, rising to the post of Associate Vice President at TBWA India. Anant then made the leap into journalism, taking over as editor of what is now Campaign India's competitive publication, Impact. Anant teaches regularly and is a prolific blogger and author of Watching from the sidelines.