IPL 2020: Star India reports record average viewership

The 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League was held in the United Arab Emirates, behind closed doors, owing to the challenging circumstances surrounding the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, viewers had to watch it all on television.

The 13th edition of the just-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) saw intense action, as Mumbai Indians (MI) won their record-extending fifth title, thus retaining their crown. Being held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) behind closed doors, owing to the COVID-19 challenges in India, viewers had to watch all the action to television.

Consequently, the season generated the most viewership of the tournament to date. According to official broadcasters Star Sports, there was a 23% rise in average viewership this season.

As per Star's report, an average of 31.57 million impressions was made during the tournament this season. The data has been compiled by India's Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

The data also considered the viewership of their five regional languages: Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada, which has played an enormous role in the steep rise of viewership for the season. Also, the season saw an increase of 24% among women, followed by 20% among children.

"Season 13 witnessed innovative programming, world-class production - both remote and on-ground. This wouldn't have been possible without the fantastic work done by the team at BCCI in staging the tournament under extenuating circumstances and seamless functioning from our teams inside the bio-secure bubbles in India and UAE," said the head of Star Sports India, Sanjog Gupta.

As for IPL 2021, it is slated to be held in April-May next year, as confirmed by the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly. Also, it is being reckoned that the edition could see a nine-team tournament.

The venue for 2021, as of now, is being deemed as India. However, UAE has been kept as a back-up, with the BCCI signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) on the same, in case the COVID situation in India is not back to normal by then.