Last Updated on 3 years by Charbel Coorey
Cricket News: IPL ratings down 35% in 2022 compared to 2021 – Report | Ratings for the IPL have dropped in 2022 according to figures
The Indian Premier League (IPL) ratings have dropped by up to 35% from 2021 according to the latest figures. According to Financial Express, the TV viewership across age groups fell by over 30% in the first three weeks of the season, and has continued to slide a little further as the season nears its playoffs phase.
IPL 2022 is the first instance of a 10-team IPL since the 2011 season. As a result, the season is now 75 matches long instead of the usual 60, and also drags out to two months. Also, the poor performances of linchpins Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians are said to be contributing to the waning numbers, as have the performances of the out of form Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and co.
Also, IPL 2022 closes out what seems like a year of IPL action after the 2021 season was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then restarted in the UAE in September/October. The T20 World Cup followed days later, and before you know it, IPL 2022 was underway, giving fans a significant amount of T20 cricket to consume.
IPL ratings down: IPL becoming a ‘fatigued product’
Sandeep Goyal, Managing Director of Rediffusion Brand Solutions, said that there is the possibility of viewer fatigue given the amount of T20 cricket fans are exposed to.
“With a higher count of teams, the match count from 60 in IPL 2021 has now jumped to 75. Viewers are now jaded due to more matches, with their favourite teams not performing well,” said Gopal, referring to CSK and MI as the two major teams who have struggled this season.
Also, it needs to be considered that viewership numbers over the past two years were influenced by pandemic-induced lockdowns. In 2020, the IPL was originally postponed from its usual March-May slot until September, which saw a 28% increase in viewership after fans were starved of cricket for months. This time in 2021, India was in hard lockdown, with people confined to their homes. The IPL gave them something to watch.
“The year 2021 was an outlier in terms of consumer behaviour. The lockdowns dramatically increased viewership patterns across media, and a return to some kind of normalcy was always likely,” said Kavita Shenoy, founder and CEO of Voiro.
#BoredWithCricket trends on Twitter as the IPL 2022 playoffs near
Republic World created a stir after India’s badminton team won the Thomas Cup. They went on to compare the achievement with India’s 1983 Cricket World Cup triumph, with the hashtag #BoredWithCricket then trending online.
Some fans bemoaned the culture of promoting one sport while degrading another, while others believed more should be done to make as many cricket matches as relevant as possible.
Part of that is the IPL, whose brand is at risk if the BCCI continues to stretch out the season. Too much of something is never a good idea, and the IPL takes up more than enough of the cricketing calendar as is. Also, the notion of less is more can create that extra demand for matches going forward.
