Editorial Staff
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) today announced the numbers that matter from the 2014 season of Pepsi Indian Premier League UAE-leg. The first part of the Twenty20 extravaganza has witnessed an unprecedented success in terms of fan turnout, television viewership, digital and ticket collections.
Inviting full houses to every game at the three venues – UAE played perfect hosts. 82 per cent were paid tickets (compared to 56 per cent in South Africa during 2009 season).
Lauding the overwhelming response, BCCI Hon. Secretary, Mr. Sanjay Patel said, “The initial success has given us a lot of confidence for the India leg. We firmly believe that the steps taken to match and set new standards of fan involvement in the IPL have been enormously successful.”
The Television viewership has been able to sustain the numbers from last year for the first 20 games. Markets like Assam (81 %), Rajasthan (35 %), Hyderabad (26 %), Delhi (19%) and Bengaluru (18 %) have shown rise in the TVRs over the last year.
The rise in fan interest has been multi-fold, as suggested in the numbers garnered on IPL’s digital properties. The official IPL website (iplt20.com) has registered a rise of 10 million visits in comparison to 2013 in the first 10 days of the tournament.
The IPL page on Facebook (facebook.com/IPL) has grown two folds. The ‘Likes’ have risen from 3.8 million to 9.1 million, and are still increasing.
The IPL on Twitter (@IPL) has gained 360,000 new followers in the first two weeks. IPL’s presence on smart phones, feature phones, iOS, Android and Windows platforms has captured the imagination of the cricket fans the world over. The IPL Fantasy league now has 850,000 registered active users.
Following the success of the UAE leg, the IPL has now returned home, to India. Mr. Biswal hopes that the passionate cricket fans of the country will continue to back the tournament with their unflinching support.
IPL Chairman, Mr. Ranjib Biswal said: “As pleased we are of the brilliant response in the UAE, our next aim is to make the IPL more appealing to the fans back home. I wish for the cricket fans in India to get involved in the game by flocking the stadia, watching the tournament on the TV and availing of all the rich information and content we have to offer through our digital platforms.”
Official News Release by BCCI-IPL
