For the India versus Bangladesh match specifically, the average TVR was 2.04 for the MF 2+ audience and 2.8 for the M 15+ ABC audience. Viewership for the first three games was decent and should pick up as the tournament progresses, said Navin Khemka, CEO South Asia, EssenceMediacom.
“It’s a decent rating considering it’s a longer format compared to T20. While ODI (one day international) ratings have declined in recent years, consumption has also shifted to multi-screen viewing due to the rise of digital platforms. Unlike before, people are no longer glued to TV screens for seven or eight hours. A lot of consumption is also happening on mobile devices,” he said.
The ICC Champions Trophy 2025, which began on February 19, is being broadcast on the Star Sports and Sports18 networks in multiple languages, including English and Hindi. In its advertising pitch, JioStar, the official media rights holder for the ICC, set a target of reaching 450 million TV viewers throughout the tournament.
JioStar has secured multiple sponsors, including Dream11, Pernod Ricard India, Beam Suntory, Kohler, Birla Opus, Vodafone Idea, ICICI Direct, McEnroe and Eicher Motors.While TV ratings for the India-Pakistan match, played on February 23, will be released next week, the game set a new digital viewership record, amassing 602 million views on JioHotstar, the streaming platform formed by the merger of Disney+ Hotstar and JioCinema.TAM Media CEO LV Krishnan said advertisers would be pleased with the viewership data, considering these numbers are for the initial matches and many high-profile games are scheduled later. “Sports viewership has been on the rise due to the explosion of multiple devices. While viewership has become fragmented between TV and digital, the cumulative audience base has only increased,” he said.
Sports viewership on television has been growing, with the Asia Cup 2023 attracting 366 million viewers. The ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 and the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 garnered 530 million and 541 million viewers, respectively, while the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 was watched by 404 million.
A JioStar spokesperson previously said that the company was in the process of finalising additional deals for the tournament, having secured partnerships across various categories, including BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance), FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), auto, healthcare, bath fittings, fantasy gaming, paints and telecom.
For the Champions Trophy, JioStar has been seeking ₹55 crore for co-presenting sponsorship across both TV and digital.
