Cricket World Cup powers rise in sports genre share
India’s win against Australia, Pakistan and the history making final brought in a lot of television ratings © Getty Images
By CricketCountry Staff
New Delhi: Jan 13, 2012
Cricket World Cup was the major highlight of 2011 as sports genre garnered a share of 3.46 per cent as per TAM Media Research data, a rise in approximately three per cent compared to 2010.
The average daily time spent on the sports genre during the year was five minutes and five seconds.
India’s win against Australia, Pakistan and the history making final brought in a lot of television ratings.
“This year saw people talking about other sports like World Series Hockey and badminton, which will also continue in 2012,” Prasana Krishnan, COO of Neo Sports was quoted saying in exchange4media.com.
“The year 2011 has been very good for sports. First part of the year saw very good growth, but the second half has been steadier. However, due to the World Cup and Indian Premier League (IPL), the advertising revenues have been at an all time high.
“Close to Rs 2,500 crore would have been spent on ads in 2011. The second half of the year has been more subdued. Overall growth has been there because of the first half. If you break down into quarters, the second half hasn’t contributed to the first half.”
According to TAM Media Research reports for the top ten sports channels of 2011, Star Cricket had the major chunk of television ratings compared to ESPN and Star Sports, mainly because of the World Cup.
“Star Cricket is the driver channel and they launched it only for cricket, so it is not surprising that it did well,” said Amin Lakhani , Principal Partner, Mindshare.
“The ratings are still relatively higher,” he added.
Agreeing with Lakhani on the point of Star Cricket doing well, Dinesh Rathore, VP, MediaVest, said, “It is not a surprise that Star Cricket did well. In terms of sports, cricket is the biggest. Star Cricket airs only Cricket, so it was bound to happen.”
“Viewership changes according to India’s performance. As far as ratings are concerned, the number of matches has increased per series, so there is a decline in the ratings,” Rathore further added.