IPL 2021: Opening match records 10 billion viewing minutes, lower than season 13

(Image: BCCI and Twitter/@IPL)

The opening match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 14th edition of the India Premier League (IPL) has recorded 9.7 billion minutes of consumption on Star India channels.

The broadcaster has clocked 323 million total impressions for the opening match of VIVO IPL 2021.

"The match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore received a tremendous response, bigger than opening matches of all other IPL editions held previously other than Dream11 IPL 2020," said Star India in a statement.

The first IPL match of the current season recorded 42 percent higher viewership than the 12th edition.

While the viewership for IPL 14 looks strong, it has not yet surpassed last year's number.

If we look at the viewership numbers of the opening match last year, the match between MI and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) recorded 11.2 billion viewing minutes. In 2019, the opening match between CSK and RCB had recorded 6.8 billion viewing minutes.

In addition, the MI versus CSK match in 2020 was watched by 158 million viewers, 21 percent higher than 131 million viewers recorded during the opening match of IPL 2019 between RCB and CSK.

According to Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC) data, last year one out of three TV viewers and 44 percent out of the 86 million TV households watched 13th edition of IPL live. Plus, the 15-21 age group has been the biggest contributor to viewership this IPL.

While TV viewership has been growing for IPL, there hasn't been strong growth in viewership on the streaming platform Disney+Hotstar.

For the last IPL edition, it was expected that the league would attract more eyeballs thanks to most people being confined to their homes because of COVID. However, IPL 13 had failed to make or break any viewership records on Disney+Hotstar, the platform video streaming the league.

Unlike 2019, when 18 million viewers were watching the IPL final concurrently, last year, viewership for the final ranged between four and six million on Disney+Hotstar.

If we look at this year, IPL 14 hasn't started on a strong note on the streaming platform. The opening match this year between MI and RCB recorded a peak viewership of 6.7 million. Compare this with the opening match of IPL 13,  the match between CSK and MI had seen a peak viewership of 8.4 million.

This shows that the major contribution in terms of viewership is still coming from TV.

And now Star India along with the sports channels will also air IPL matches on its general entertainment channel (GEC) Star Plus every Sunday starting from April 18. The first match that will air on Star Plus will be the match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings which is the 11th match of the 60 fixtures in the league.