The landmark 10th season of the IPL is bigger and better than any before: Johri

After 56 action-packed games, the IPL is set, to begin with, the playoffs stage which is also popularly known as the business end of the tournament. 4 teams will compete with each other to get a hand on the prestigious trophy. Barring Rising Pune Supergiant, every other team has lifted the title before.

This season was a landmark 10th edition of the IPL and the BCCI has left no stone unturned in making this season the biggest one in its history. TV viewership reached an all-time high only in the fifth week of the league. The crowds have turned up in unprecedented numbers in the stadium this year, a steep rise of 25 percent from 2016.

Considerable soar in digital media

IPL fantasy league has already had 9,50,000 participants and is expected to cross 1 million people by the time the tournament is over. Almost 6 million tweets have been recorded in the first five weeks while the other digital properties of IPL recorded 750 million page views.

Speaking of the unprecedented growth, Rahul Johri, CEO of BCCI quoted One India as saying, “The phenomenal response we’re seeing from fans across various platforms is a testimony to the IPL’s enduring and yet still-growing popularity. We have worked extremely hard to ensure the landmark 10th season of the IPL is bigger and better than any before. From the new records being set each week and the trend only set to accelerate heading into the playoffs, I am confident that IPL 10’s success will surpass that of any season that has come before.”

Key highlights on TV ratings

The viewership of IPL 2017 this year had surpassed 386.3 Million in the 43rd game of the season, which is greater than the entire viewership of IPL 2016. During the course of the tournament, IPL was the most watched product on Indian television. Five weeks into the tournament, IPL games occupied the top seven positions in the top ten highest rated TV programs on television. (Source: BARC)

“The numbers so far barely scratch the surface of IPL 10’s full potential. With the playoffs just around the corner and the League approaching the ‘business-end’ of its season, viewership, attendance and digital numbers are only set to soar, putting the tenth season of the IPL on course to go down in history as the League’s biggest and best yet,” BCCI said in a media advisory on Monday night (May 15).

With the playoffs and the finals still to come, the records will keep soaring until the final ball of the tournament is delivered. Ever since Brendon McCullum hit that wonderful 158* in the opening game of IPL, it was given that this tournament has a long way to go. Since then, the IPL has got bigger and better every year and will continue to reach unprecedented heights in the years to come.