First 10 ICC WC Matches See Increase in TVR from ’07

The first 10 matches of the International Cricket World Cup (ICC) World Cup which began last month have delivered and average rating of 2.6 TVR (television viewer ratings), up 2.4 TVR for the previous 2007 edition of the quadrennial tournament.

The matches, including the opener between South Asian rivals India – Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – Pakistan have been the most watched games delivering ratings of 7.47 and 3.28 TVR respectively.

According to data released by ratings agency Tam for CS 4+ TG, the India – Bangladesh was sampled by more than 76 million viewers, while the Sri Lanka – Pakistan game attracted more than 51 million viewers on Star Cricket, ESPN, Star Sports and DD1 together.

By the end of match 10, the World Cup had been sampled by a record 127 million individuals, or 64 per cent of the total audience in the country. 

Except for two matches, New Zealand -Australia (0.68 TVR) and New Zealand – Kenya (0.63 TVR), the rest of the games got a viewership of more than 1 TVR.

The remaining games between the West Indies – South Africa and England – Netherlands delivered similar ratings of 1.68 TVR. Both the matches were sampled by more than 40 million viewers respectively. Some of the one-sided contests like Sri Lanka – Canada and Pakistan – Kenya also managed good ratings of 1.36 and 1.41 TVR.

Average ratings for the first 10 matches of the 2007 World Cup was 2.4 TVR with India-Bangladesh and Pakistan-West Indies match being the two most watched game with a rating of 8.85 and 3.66 TVR respectively.

Commenting on the ratings, ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd EVP-Ad Sales & New Media Sanjay Kailash said, “The ratings for the non-India matches are very healthy and point towards increasing viewer interest in the tournament as a whole. We expect the trend to continue as the tournament progresses towards the second phase as teams get into top gear to qualify for the knock-out stages.”