Top header Banner
Top header Banner
Middle top Banner

Star Plus India to telecast IPL 2018 knock-out matches?

In a strategy to ramp up the reach of this year’s ongoing India Premier League (IPL), BizAsiaLive.com has learnt that exclusive broadcaster, Star TV is toying with the idea of telecasting the knock-out stages of the tournament on flagship channel, Star Plus.

Despite a huge response for the IPL 2018 on digital platform, Hotstar, the reach of the series has been lower on television. A report in the Economic Times adds that after four weeks of the tournament, the all-India reach continues to be 2% lower than last year’s. The Hindi-speaking markets is said to be 16.7% lower for similar number of matches.

A source told Economic Times, “We stated that we will reach 700 million viewers via TV and digital (Hotstar) this IPL. While Hotstar reach is great, on TV, despite being aired on 10 channels, reach is not good enough. Especially in the Hindi speaking markets, where earlier rights holder (Sony) had put the matches on Hindi movie channel, it is 15-20% lower.”

A senior media buyer told the publication, “Market had big expectations from Star India, which had promised big numbers. However, now it seems that there is no difference and whatever viewership we are seeing is the same audiences spending more time because of more nail-biting finishes and return of CSK. Star has not managed to market the property well, which has resulted in IPL not getting newer audiences.”

A Star TV spokesperson is yet to comment on the report.