A sharp decline in the viewership of the opening week of the 2022 season of the Indian Premier League has been observed. As per the Broadcast Audience Research Council's data, the TV rating has seen a huge 33% decline, and the overall viewership has dropped by 14%.
This has raised concerns among the sports marketing community as they await the auction of the next cycle of media rights. BCCI has reportedly set the reserve price above Rs 32,000 crores as they are aiming to garner around 100 crores per match. However, the advertisers and other stakeholders are questioning the move due to this sharp decline in comparison to last year's TV ratings and viewership.
The ratings according to BARC for the 2021 opening week were pegged at 3.75 while for the opening week of IPL 2022 the ratings dropped to 2.52. The overall reach dropped from 267.7 million to 229.06 million. At 268 million, the reach was higher in the pre-Covid times too.
The biggest reason behind this could be the gradual return of normalcy after 2 years of lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic and also the IPL fatigue. The 14th edition of the Indian Premier League ended in mid-October and the ongoing season began within a gap of 5 months.