New Delhi: The first cricket Test match between India and Australia is the third highest rated bilateral Test match in the history of BARC in seven years while India and Pakistan is the second highest rated match in the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup. Rated Women’s T20 Matches in the last seven years.
Cricket viewership on television has increased in the last 15 months after a worrying decline during the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year. The Asia Cup, India’s bilateral series with both Australia and South Africa, and now the Border Gavaskar series, have all seen a significant improvement in viewership.
“Cricket viewership on TV is still strong. This Test match is the third most watched bilateral Test match in the last five years, behind only two India-England Test matches, one of which was a day-night match,” Sanjog Gupta, Head, Disney Star told Mint .
Data claims that the first Test match of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy was among the top five most watched Test matches since 2018. The first Test between India and Australia recorded a 43% increase in average minute viewers (7.3 million) as compared to the first Test played between India and England in 2021.
Marketing campaigns and programming have helped drive this growth, he added.
Gupta said that the India-Pakistan match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup is the second most watched match after the India-Australia final of the T20 World Cup. “Both these are events of stature. When things like that come along, especially in live sports, it automatically lends itself to high viewing.”
The company said it broadcast all of the Indian women’s team games that it played live ahead of the World Cup, which potentially contributed to the increase in viewership.
Gupta expects this rating to continue till the IPL. “The stature of sporting events is high, and the communal visual and immediacy factor make them ideal for televised viewing. Televised viewing also allows fans to calibrate attention/participation and manage distractions. This seamless “The slimmer experience means that the average duration of viewing sessions on TVs is longer than on smaller screens.”
Last year, according to BARC subscriber data, both the Asia Cup 2022 as well as the India-Australia series garnered almost 13% more viewership than similar tournaments. The India-South Africa series saw an even bigger jump of 30% since the two played each other in June.
With 30-35% less viewership in the opening matches, as per BARC data, viewership in IPL in 2022 is set to take a severe hit.
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