IPL-4 opens to lowest TV viewership ratings

 The ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) T-20 tournament has opened to the lowest average television viewership ratings (TVRs) in its four-year history, worrying media buying firms and advertisers who have spent Rs 800-900 crore for on-air advertising. 

Data released by TAM Sports , the industry benchmark agency that measures television viewership, say the first 15 IPL matches recorded a TVR of 4.36, almost 18% lower than last season. The ratings are for six metros. This is also a tad lower than the second season when the tournament was shifted to South Africa. 

Punitha Arumugam, CEO of Madison Media Group , which buys ad spots for brands like Cadbury, Bharti Airtel and ITC, said: "It is a little worrying as the average TVR is lower than the previous seasons. It could be because of too many teams and too many matches. But we are hoping the ratings will pick up as the tournament progresses." She added that if the TVRs remain lower, it could impact official broadcaster SET MAX's ability to charge a premium for the remaining inventory as well as the next season. 

Drop in viewership ratings was contributed by both male and female viewers. Viewership among males above the age of 15 is down 11% while viewership ratings among women and kids has fallen by a little over 11% over the previous season. 

Dentsu Media CEO Sanjoy Chakrabarty said he expected IPL viewership ratings to be similar to the last season at best. It was highly unlikely that they would be higher, Chakrabarty added. Dentsu Media is the media buyer for Aircel , Honda and Toyota . 

SET MAX attributes the drop in rating to higher number of afternoon matches. "In the month of April, there have been more afternoon matches, which has led to a slight drop. The evening games are doing very well. In May, there are more evening matches and the ratings will even out," said Rohit Gupta, president-network sales, SET MAX. 

Gupta added that the absolute reach of IPL has grown by 15% as 125 million viewers had tuned in to watch the first fifteen matches across the country, he said. 

The channel has roped in advertisers at a significant premium over last season, riding on the tournament's high viewership ratings during the past seasons. 

Television spots have been sold at Rs 5-6 lakh per ten seconds to large sponsors. Vodafone is the presenting sponsor for the fourth season and has been a key advertiser for several seasons. "The viewership is subdued since IPL is coming after World Cup. Cricket buffs have already spent their emotional energy cheering for the Indian team," said Anuradha Aggarwal, vice-president - marketing, brand communication and consumer insights, Vodafone. She added that the school exams also lead to restricted television viewing in homes and hopes the momentum will pick up once school vacations begin. 

"We bought IPL before the World Cup. We knew unlike previous years, IPL was not the first major cricket tournament in the year and it could have an impact on viewership," she added. 

IPL-4 gets off to a slow start

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni had last week warned that the rigorous cricketing schedule is likely to take its toll on the players. If viewer ratings are an indication, the fans too are showing signs of fatigue. The fourth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), which began just six days after the World Cup, has failed to attract eyeballs during its initial games.

As if the vacant seats at stadiums aren’t a dampener, the average viewership rating for the 2011 IPL’s opening match (Chennai Super Kings versus Kolkata Knight Riders) was 3.2 compared to 3.1 during the inaugural game (Deccan Chargers versus Kolkata Knight Riders) last year, according to overnight television ratings agency, aMap. The average rating per day for IPL-4 was expected to be 5. India’s matches had an average rating of 3.7 in the World Cup. The figure shot up to 5, 11 and 17 for the quarterfinal, semi-final and final, respectively.

“Though I haven’t lost interest in cricket, I’m not really keen on following the IPL. There seems to be no excitement about the tournament among people. Everyone seems disinterested,” said Afzal Shah, 27, manager with a luxury store in South Mumbai. Cricket enthusiasts also feel that with more teams in IPL-4, their favourite cricketers are divided into different teams. This makes the tournament boring.

Industry experts believe India is still rejoicing over the team’s victory at the World Cup and that viewer interest may take a while to resurface. “There was hardly any gap between the World Cup and the IPL. People had altered their schedule to see the World Cup, but they might not want to do the same for the IPL,” said Shashank Srivastava, chief general manager (marketing), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.    

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd has invested just Rs4 crore on IPL-4 compared to the Rs30 crore on the World Cup. Roy Kurian, business head at Yamaha Motors, too blamed the tight schedule for a dull response.

However, there are many who believe IPL-4 will attract the crowds as the tournament progresses. “The appetite for cricket is insatiable in India. The audience is still recovering from World Cup mania. We are taking a breather and will get back to the game with the same zest; it is just a matter of time,” said Anand Halve, co-founder, Chlorophyll (brand and communication consultancy). Added Sam Balsara, chairman and managing director, Madison World: “Cricket has had its peak. IPL is going to do extremely well. The World Cup was so exciting and the outcome was so dramatic, but I think IPL will do well too.”

The advertisement rates too have shot up. The rates for IPL-4 are Rs5.5 lakh per 10 seconds of advertising, a 25-30% increase since last year. The figure was Rs3.25 lakh for the World Cup. As a result, many advertisers have stayed off the television medium. As per industry analysts, SET Max, the official broadcaster of IPL-4, is expecting to earn Rs800-1,000 crore revenue this season.