NEW DELHI: Star India, the official broadcaster of the Indian Premier League (IPL), on Friday said the opening match of the T20 event clocked 323 million total impressions.
The opening match between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore received a response which was bigger than the opening matches of all other IPL editions held previously, except in 2020, and 42 per cent higher than the edition in 2019, Star India said in a statement. "The Star India network has clocked 323 million total impressions for the opening match of VIVO IPL 2021," it said.
Impressions are the total number of times a content has been watched. It is a standard viewership metric. This year, nearly every third TV-owning household in India watched the opening match live, the statement added.
The data has been sourced from the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) India. "We are delighted with fans' response to VIVO IPL 2021. Almost 10 billion minutes of consumption (9.7 billion) for the opening match of the tournament shows how eagerly anticipated the season was, despite just a four-month gap between the two seasons," a Star Sports spokesperson said.
The company is confident that viewers' interest will continue to grow as the tournament progresses. IPL 2021 is being broadcast in seven languages, custom-designed from the ground up for viewers of that region.