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MUMBAI:
While cricket rules sports television in India, for a major
event like the Olympics there are still a fair number of people
interested.
Or
at least that's what Tam data all India 4+ makes us believe.
As many as 27 million Indians tuned in for the Opening Ceremony
of the Beijing Olympics on 8 August on DD 1, DD News and DD
Sports.
The
event got a TVR of 1.2. Sixty-two per cent of the viewership
comprised males. Most of the viewership came from Sec A and
B. Sec B contributed 32 per cent of viewership. Sec A contributed
27 per cent. So a sizeable interest in this event comes from
the upper socio-economic class.
The
India figures though pale in comparison with what is happening
in China. CSM Media Research, a part of TNS Media Research,
revealed that there were over 842 million Chinese viewers
(unduplicated) watching TV at home (excluding out-of-home
viewing).
This
means that 68.8 per cent of the total Chinese TV audience
were glued to their TV screens to watch the opening Olympics
ceremony themed One World One Dream. This is the highest
TV audience viewership figure ever recorded in China.
Coming
back to India, in the 2004 edition of the Games which took
place in Athens, men's hockey, athletics, tennis and men's
shooting had the most viewership. This was due to the Indian
element. India's medal hopes had rested on Anju Bobby George.
Then we had Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi playing doubles
in tennis. In comparison, some of the sports where India did
not feature or do well like women's soccer, judo, archery,
handball, fencing, equestrian, beach volleyball and water
polo did not get much viewership. Sports like weightlifting,
swimming and women's hockey fared better.
Going
forward, this year, the question is whether Abhinav Bindra's
gold medal will lead to a rise in viewership for the Games.
Viewers will no doubt be following the progress of India in
boxing and tennis. They would also have tuned in to watch
Saina Nehwal's badminton quarterfinal match which she unfortunately
lost. It will also be interesting to see how many Indians
watched swimming machine Michael Phelps break record after
record.
Also
Read:-
114
mn viewers tune in to NBC on first two days of Olympics
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