The Indian Premier League for many years has always been topping the viewership charts during the live matches. But during the IPL 2021 Phase 2, things are different, as this time Star Sports, which is the official broadcaster of the IPL has failed to be the number 1 channel of the week.
According to the data released by Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India, Star Sports 1 Hindi was placed third on the weekly rating list after Sun TV and Star Plus.
The data released by BARC represents the week between Saturday, September 25 to Friday, October 1, 2021, wherein Star Sports 1 Hindi stands at No. 3 in the Top Channels List for the week.
This did not happen even during the IPL 2020 or the IPL 2021 Phase 1. During their live broadcast, Star Sports 1 Hindi was at the No. 1 position throughout the event.
After the first week of IPL 2021 Phase 2 was completed, the BCCI had announced that the current season is on track to deliver 400 million viewers’ mark on TV, for the fourth year in a row. Even Star Sports had claimed that TV viewer aggregation is higher than the last three editions of the tournament, since 2018.
Even after all these claims, Star Network’s flagship sports channel couldn’t manage to top the rating charts.Â
The high octane match between the arch-rivals Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians, which was played in Phase 1 was the highest-rated match on the BARC charts.
The matches that have been featuring CSK have also found a 2-3% increase in viewership in comparison to others. The CSK matches haven’t only topped the charts in Chennai, but also emerged number one in five other states that don’t have an IPL franchise of their own – Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Bihar.