Published: Mar 23, 2017, 09:40 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 23, 2017, 09:55 PM (IST)
Broadcaster Sony Pictures Networks India (SPN) today said it had got 14 sponsors for the tenth season of Indian Premier League, and expressed confidence that the viewership would exceed last year’s figure of 361 million. The official broadcast partner of IPL also said this edition of the T20 league will have a five language coverage across three channels. “Last year it was nearly 361 million viewers and I am very sure the numbers will far exceed that again….We have already announced 14 sponsors for IPL this year, which is a new record,” SPN India Executive VP and Business Head (Sony ESPN & SIX) Prasana Krishnan said here. “It is difficult to project a number (of viewers), because the base numbers have been changing. But I am very confident that there will be significant and healthy growth over that. My personal goal will be to cross 400 million,” he said.
The 10th season of IPL will kick off on April 5. “We have already announced 14 sponsors and we are more or less sold out,” he said. Declining to comment on revenue expectations, Krishnan said, “That also (is) on course for a new record.” IPL this year will have coverage in five languages — Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Hindi and English — he added. To a question on whether the former cricketer and Punjab MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu would feature as a commentator, Krishnan said, “It is a decision that he and the Punjab government have to take. We would love to have him. He has been an integral part of IPL all these years and he is clearly one of the popular faces and voices.”
