Live Issue: Will GECs suffer again during IPL Season 4?

For the past three years, the Indian Premier League (IPL) has managed to create a dent in the viewership of Hindi GECs. The trend seems to continue this year as well with TAM viewership data saying that the opening match between CSK and KKR of IPL 2011 delivered a rating of 7.14 TVR and the opening ceremony generated 3 TVR for the All India, C&S 4+ audience. The opening match of IPL 3 had recorded 5.9 TVR. According to TAM data, 55.8 million watched the first match on MAX, as compared to IPL 2010 that reached 42.6 million viewers.

Partha P Ghosh, general manager, Media Direction pointed out that since most of the matches are in the prime time slot, it will also affect normal viewership habits. “The impact will be more severe as IPL progresses towards an exciting end, and will be more on individual programs during prime time than the overall channel shares. The die-hard viewer will find a repeat show to get her/his daily dose of the program in some other time slot,” he added.

“Given the single-TV household scenario, there could be some impact of IPL on GECs but I don’t expect it to be alarming. This impact could peak during marquee games like MI v CSK, MI v KKR etc,” observed T Gangadhar, managing director, India, MEC.

Nandini Dias, chief operating officer, Lodestar UM is of the opinion that across the years, IPL has gained viewers. She said, “TV industry has kept growing every year and the number of viewers has kept increasing. So while the rating seems lower because of fragmentation, the number of people reached has been more. All channels have reconciled to the fact that during IPL the viewership pattern alters to the extent of 15-20%.”

“I have also not seen any extra efforts made by the channels to confront the decline. I think they have reconciled to the fact that there will be a fall and whatever they do may not work,” said Mona Jain, chief operating officer, Vivaki Exchange.

Manas Mishra, executive vice president and head, Mudra Connext feels that this year IPL might not enjoy the same excitement as it had received in the past editions. He added, “Similar to what happens in a reality show where you have wild card entries to boost TRPs, IPL may also resort to such initiatives outside the game of Cricket. I also believe that STAR India has got the confidence to re-brand the channel and announce the launch of its high-definition programming content only after they felt that the IPL has not managed to generate enough excitement this time around as compared to previous years.”

There is enough buzz in the air surrounding the IPL through advertising campaigns and with the tournament yet to reach the final stages, there is a lot more to look forward to in the space. However, one thing is certain. This year too, Hindi GECs have not yet managed to come up with differentiated programming that can draw viewers away from IPL.

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Manas Mishra, executive vice president and head, Mudra Connext

“Similar to what happens in a reality show where you have wild card entries to boost TRPs, IPL may also resort to such initiatives outside the game of Cricket to boost its viewership if they see a drop in viewership. I also believe that STAR India has got the confidence to rebrand the channel and announce the launch of its high-definition programming content only after they felt that the IPL has not managed to generate enough excitement this time around as compared to previous years”.

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Nandini Dias, chief operating officer, Lodestar UM

“All channels have reconciled to the fact that during IPL the viewership pattern alters to the extent of 15-20%. In the second year of IPL, a number of channels had created programmes to counter the effect of IPL. But this year almost none of the channels have created any differentiated programming. That is primarily because of the demand and supply of inventory. Most channels are running full and do not have inventory to sell”.

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T Gangadhar, managing director, India, MEC

“Over the past three years, the GEC loyalist has gotten savvier and has learnt to navigate smartly between IPL and their favourite shows. Since there are 74 games this year, I expect the reach of IPL 4 to be higher than before but the average time spent is likely to come down. No prizes for guessing what a large majority will be watching when they are not on MAX”.

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Mona Jain, chief operating officer, Vivaki Exchange

“Obviously the GECs will continue to lose viewership though it will not be consistent all through the day. It will definitely impact during the critical and prime time matches. The numbers for the first match were pretty good, and obviously there is a decline in viewership during the prime time. Like as of year, everyone is watching the IPL and in one TV houses, the IPL is on. Over the last four years, IPL has established itself as a property and has become a part of any kind of programming that people watch. The ratings also indicate that very clearly”.

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Partha P Ghosh, general manager, Media Direction

“The impact will be more severe as IPL progresses towards an exciting end. It will be more on individual programs during prime time than the overall channel shares. The die-hard viewer will find a repeat show to get her/his daily dose of the program in some other time slot. The GRPs remain less affected but the TRPs do. Another interesting thing is that sticky programs do better during this phase even if they are repeats of earlier episodes than new episodes of a high rated prime time program. Programming will definitely take care of these nuances to tide over the IPL phase”.