| A thought for today: |
ICL gains impressive viewership
The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has recorded an impressive viewership not just in India, but across the overseas market, particularly Pakistan and the United Kingdom, according to the latest ratings.
As per the latest television ratings, the Indian Cricket League (ICL) has registered an impressive television viewership of 2.13 (as per TAM) and 1.80 (as per aMap) for its recently concluded showcase event, ICL 20s Indian Championship. ICL has also achieved stupendous viewership patronage in the overseas market as well. Pakistan registered 3.6 for the first semi-finals, 2.3 for second semi-finals, 5.7 for Final 1 and 5.1 for Final 2 (Source: Medialogic). In United Kingdom, the ICL matches registered a rating of 1.4 among the Asian population (Source: BARB).
On the overall success of the bigger, better and more vibrant ICL Season-2, ICL Business Head Himanshu Mody said, “The ratings validate our belief in creating a popular and commercially viable sports product with the ICL. As a pioneering product still in its growth stage, ICL has today earned viewership patronage comparable to any other cricket product televised in India at the same period of time. This exemplifies the emergence of ICL as an important sporting event in the annual calendar of the Indian sports scenario.”
ICL 20s Indian Championship first finals also registered a phenomenal Peak Ratings with Kolkata registering a peak TVR of 9.45, Mumbai 8.28, Gujarat (.1 to 1MN) 9.08, PHCHP (.1 to 1MN) 6.04, Rajasthan (1MN +) 6.65, Hyderabad 4.73 respectively (Source: TAM, TG: CS M15+).
The month tournament, preceded by a voluminous Rs 500 million marketing campaign (Cricket Hai Meri Life) and lapped up by the packed 50,000 capacity stadium saw the ratings ascend steeply in popularity and television viewership as the tournament progressed.
“These ratings translate well for ICL’s popularity across the globe. Pakistan ratings of the ICL matches have been as high as 5.7. On the other hand, in United Kingdom ICL matches registered an impressive rating of 1.4 amongst the Asian population, considering the fact that an average channel in Multichannel HH (Multichannel HH = All TV home – only Terrestrial (analog) HHs) gets rating in the range of .03 to .04. ICL ratings are better than most of the other Sports Channel performance in the same time band among All-Individuals in UK,” Mody added.
ICL is leaving no stone unturned as it fine tunes its preparations for its forthcoming premium tournament ICL 20s World Series, that will feature four teams from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and ICL-World, made up of a galaxy of international stars from across the global cricket fraternity. The ICL 20s World Series starts from November 23, 2008 and will be held at the Sardar Patel Stadium, Ahmedabad.
