MUMBAI: There has been a 31 per cent jump in online viewership for the Indian Premier League (IPL). More than 72 million page views were generated for the fourth edition of the tournament as against 55 million last year.
Times Internet Limited (TIL) streamed the recently completed IPL.
The page views for India were 43 million over the last year number of 24 million, representing a growth of 79 per cent and posting a new record for online sports viewership in the country. It also indicates the growth and acceptance of online streaming for live sporting events in India. One clear reason indicated by users to opt for online over TV was ability to multitask on the computer.
"The numbers reflect a new benchmark in global and Indian sports history, a fact reflected in the final match of the tournament that generated over 5 million page views - the highest single day viewership for the tournament," TIL said.
The live streaming of the global sports event, coupled with match highlights, had hit it off with India‘s teeming cricket fans both resident and expatriate. The Indiatimes and YouTube platform gave marketers the ability to reach out to large audiences with engaging ad formats (clickable video ads, dynamic banners, flash innovations, page skinning), thereby ensuring maximum possible interaction with their brands.
Maruti Suzuki chief GM marketing Shashank Srivastava said,"We are very happy with our association as presenting sponsors of IPL on Indiatimes.com. After the World Cup we realized that there would be a fatigue element in TV viewership. And we also realized that the digital medium would catch the right target group for IPL."
Times Internet CEO Rishi Khiani said, "Our approach to IPL was focused on providing a high quality viewing experience and maximizing audience reach through TIL‘s network strength and distribution partnerships.All through Season 4, our efforts around product innovation and quality continuously paid off via increased audience loyalty, strong value to the advertiser and brand association with IPL. We are proud to have set new benchmarks in the online sports viewing space and will endeavor to do so, in the seasons to come."
Google India‘s head of vertical sales Kiran Mani said, "Our focus has been to provide our users with all form of popular and premium content. We‘re extremely delighted with the response we‘ve got from all the cricket fans on YouTube for the Indian premier league season 4. We look forward to build on this partnership with Indiatimes and set new standards for IPL season five."
