IPL 5 ratings soften, 16 matches notch up 3.65 TVR

MUMBAI: The ratings for the fifth season of the Indian Premier League have failed to improve after a softer opening, while it has started eating into the Hindi general entertainment genre.

The first 16 matches of the IPL have registered an average TVR of 3.65 compared to a 4 TVR in the last season of the tourney.

As per data from TAM Sports, the cumulative reach of the matches (C&S, 4+, All India) have dropped to 123 million viewers, from 127 million last time.

The first seven matches of the current IPL season had delivered an average rating of 3.76 TVR which was lower than the 4.63 TVR that it had notched up last year.

Multi Screen Media (MSM) president network sales, licensing and telephony Rohit Gupta declined to comment on whether the channel would manage to achieve growth this year. In the fourth edition of the IPL, MSM had posted an advertising revenue of Rs 9 billion.

For the record, the broadcaster has only six sponsors on board with Vodafone and Idea 3G smart phone as co-presenting sponsors and Cadbury‘s Dairy Milk, Havells, Pepsi and Tata Photon as associate sponsors.

GroupM CEO South Asia Vikram Sakhuja says that re-calibration of rates is needed. "The IPL is still a very good property and it is maturing. The first week‘s data was around 10-11 per cent less than last year. The second week‘s ratings are almost similar to what was managed last year.

Overall, so far the ratings are six to seven per cent lower. I think that the event could manage a similar performance to last year with a possible positive or negative difference of four to five per cent. Even with properties like ‘KBC‘ you see a bit of a drop from one season to the next. What you hope for is that the ratings at least hold steady."

He notes that one good thing about this edition of the IPL is that there have been more close encounters compared to last year. "Both of yesterday‘s matches went down to the wire. That should help viewership."

More micro-marketing efforts are needed at this stage of the event. "This means building anticipation for daily clashes and better marketing of day to day matches is needed. This effort needs to come from everybody including the broadcaster and franchises," Sakhuja says.

Commune Sports and Entertainment MD Jamie Stewart continues to stay bullish on the IPL. "Although the ratings have dropped, I think the IPL is still a valuable property. Even at the current level, the rating is decent."

Stewart believes the franchises should not have upset the applecart by revamping their teams as that leads to dilution in fan loyalty. "I think the change in teams last year was complete madness as many of the franchises had to start building their fan base right from the scratch," he adds.

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