Thanks in part to some thoroughly entertaining and high-scoring games, IPL 2024 looks to be on course to smash TV viewing figure records for the competition.
According to figures from the opening month of the tournament, more than 40 million people cumulatively have already tuned in to watch the action.
And with plenty more matches yet to be played, including the knockout phase and the final, it’s expected that the overall viewing figure for IPL 2024 will exceed a staggering 150 million.
Big Business:
The real-term growth in viewership of IPL 2024 is around 15% up on the same stage of the tournament in 2023.
It confirms, as if there was any doubt, how big a commercial frontier the Indian Premier League has become. The data suggests that as many as 340 million people in India are engaging in sports betting – an industry now worth around £1.6 billion a year to the country’s economy, wagering on the likes of the Rajasthan Royals (11/4), Chennai Super Kings (10/3) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (7/2) to lift the trophy.
The TV broadcasting rights saw an intense tug-of-war between interested parties in 2022, with Star India and Viacom 18 winning the televised and streaming rights respectively for a combined £5.1 billion.
Outside of India, media firms DAZN and Sky Sports have landed the international broadcast rights, with sources suggesting they would have paid tens of millions for the privilege.
All told, it means that the Indian Premier League as a business entity is worth in the region of £8.6 billion – up on the £6.7 billion valuation of as recently as 2022.
Although other nations have tried to steal its thunder, the IPL remains as the most successful franchise cricket tournament in history – very much the equivalent of the English Premier League in football, with cash-rich owners forking out huge sums to sign new players.
Mitch Starc taking wickets in purple – we can get used to this! 😌 pic.twitter.com/Xgls0JoQmH
— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) March 19, 2024
At IPL 2024, Mitchell Starc will be paid £2.4 million for his two-month-long stint in India, becoming the highest-earning player in IPL history after eight years away from the competition.
TV Stars:
There’s one thing that is sure to keep cricket lovers in their armchairs – flat pitches and lots of runs being scored.
And that has certainly been the case at IPL 2024, where nearly 20% of the opening 30 games saw an innings score of 200 or more – well on course to smash the record set in 2023.
Match 30 between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru saw a mammoth aggregate score between the two innings of 549… breaking a record set just days before by the Sunrisers and Mumbai Indians.
End of a proper run-fest in Bengaluru 🙌
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/OOJP7G9bLr#TATAIPL | #RCBvSRH pic.twitter.com/fynPqgrZ3h— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 15, 2024
The game saw a number of other records broken, including the highest innings total – set by Sunrisers with their tally of 287 – while RCB’s knock was the largest in a losing cause in IPL history.
And which cricket fan doesn’t love to see sixes being smashed? Sunrisers hammered 22 maximums in their innings – the most in competition history, while the game also set new milestones for total sixes struck and total boundaries.
With action like that out in the middle, it’s no wonder that the love for and popularity of the IPL continues to increase.