Is IPL a 'serial killer'?--Article--Crick

The initial doubts about whether the DLF Indian Premier League tournament would be able to compete with prime time television soaps have been dispelled. The verdict is out, the DLF IPL is here to stay. At least, that's what the television ratings seem to suggest. The Target Rating Points (TRP) of IPL is much higher than the daily soaps.

In its second week itself, IPL's TRP has soared up to 4.7, which is higher than the highest rated television soaps.

If we were to take a look at the female target audience of 15 years and above and compared what they watched. Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi on Star Plus had a rating of 4.5, while another popular soap on Zee TV, Saat Phere, shows a rating of 4.6. A lot of these women seem to have tuned in to watch the DLF IPL as seen by the TRP of 4.7.

The TRP of IPL shoots up when the target audience shifts to men. For men over 15 years, the ratings for IPL move up to 7.3, which is a dream figure for any daily soap.

While other channels are struggling to retain the viewers, IPL broadcaster SET Max is cashing in on it. Its market share rose to 28.8% from a mere 5.7% just a few weeks ago.

It's not just the broadcaster, advertisers like Godrej are also ecstatic at having taken such a gamble that is beginning to pay off. Godrej has not only chosen the IPL to stage its makeover, it has also spent 16-18 crore on doing it!

"We have not been advertising much on cricket but IPL is a major cricket event which was timed extremely well from our point of view as we were launching our new brand and the IPL had also started. So, we became the TV sponsors of the first set of IPL on SONY Max and that has worked very well. I understand viewership is much higher than expected," Adi Godrej, Chairman of Godrej Group said.

As brands get ready for battle of the eyeballs, the war will not be confined to the cricket field. It will also be interesting to watch how TV viewership ratings fluctuate over the next few days as Shah Rukh Khan's Kyya Aap Panchvi Pass se Tez Hain begins on Star Plus on April 25.