In 29 matches, the TV viewership has hit over 40 crore, the broadcaster said.
Disney Star said that it has recorded a growth of nearly 24% in television viewership ratings (TVR) in comparison to the last edition, citing BARC data.
“Competitive matches and strong individual performances powered by Star Sports’ world-class programming, key partnerships, and sustained marketing efforts to recruit audiences have sustained the upward trajectory of viewership,” said Sanjog Gupta, Head – Sports, Disney Star.
This season, IPL viewership is seeing competition between TV and digital with the cricket board BCCI selling the TV broadcast and digital streaming rights for the 2023-27 cycle of the IPL to separate entities for a whopping Rs 48,390 crore in total.
Disney Star bagged the television rights for the Indian subcontinent for Rs 23,575 crore and Reliance-backed Viacom18 got digital rights for Rs 20,500 crore.
Data showed that the broadcaster saw a growth of nearly 59% in viewership among kids (2 to 14 years) across all editions of IPL. “In addition, 9.32 crore kids tuned in to watch the live broadcast of the first 29 games, an increase of 58.7% over the last edition,” the company said in a statement.Disney’s Gupta earlier told ET that the cumulative reach, and time spent, this season were the second highest ever, while peak concurrency was the highest barring the pandemic years.
He attributed the growth of the IPL viewership on TV to factors like better marketing, innovative surround programming, and the greater buzz around the property since the matches were happening across 12 venues.
Gupta said Star Sports’ penetration had, for the first time, gone beyond 90% of the pay-TV market due to the content deals that had been stitched with TV distribution platforms. Demand for IPL ad inventory on TV has gone up after the ratings for the first match came out last week, he said.
